Dark Souls 3: Daughters of the Abyss DLC
by Leider Hosen
Summary: In the kingdom of Londor, far yet near, the seething Abyss poses a continued threat to the first flame. And so, like his forbears, the Ashen One must maketh pilgrimage to the Land of Ancient Lords...
1. Intro

What is that? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT. An Upload, imposibru! Hell has surely frozen over.

Yup, it sure has. So, I was throwing around conjecture and ideas about what the DLC will be, when I got so damn inspired by the idea I had, I decided I'd write it up as FanFiction. Some of you, from yesteryears when I actually uploaded stuff, may remember The King of Ruin. This will be similar to that, but in the writing and narrative style of VaatiVidya's Lorethrough for the sake of making it less unbearably stiff, with no further delay, let's get started:

* * *

The land of Dark Souls is a land of mystery, intrigue, and storied history. Transient lands fade in and out of existence, and countless names and identities have been stripped from their holders as the people who remember dwindle and fade, much like the Embers of the First Flame. But in Lordran, and now Lothric, the world has a tendency to remember the past long after such knowledge has disappeared from the world.

What is here today will surely exist tomorrow, and in all the tomorrows afterward, sometimes with disastrous consequences. Every footstep your character takes is in the shadow of the events of the past, and here it is no different.

In the time of the first Lord of Cinder, the primordial serpents attempted to destroy everything the Gods had built upon the corpses of their dead brethren, the Dragons, using the one thing they feared. The Dark.

Humanity, children of the Dark, were misled into aiding the Serpents for this end. The first time, they were misled into freeing Manus, and torturing him to the point of madness to learn the secrets of Dark Magic, Manus creating the Abyss in retaliation. The second time, The Four Kings of New Londo were tempted by the forbidden power of Lifedrain, and the Kings and their knights becoming Darkwriaths, creatures whose sole purpose was to harness the power of the abyss to assuage their own lust for power, while also stealing humanity to return to the Abyss, to recreate the Dark Soul from the innumerable fragments scattered across the human race.

Twice, the serpents attempted to usurp the age of fire using Humanity and the Dark, and twice, they were met with failure, as the very thing they manipulated turned against them, slaughtered their champions, and pillaged their Souls to relight the First Flame.

For the Chosen Undead, claiming the souls of Manus and Four Kings, becoming the legacy of Artorias, the Abysswalker, and denying the Darkwraiths their champions, was the end. But, Kaathe and the Primordial Serpents live on, and with nary a whisper of Dark in the world, the Abyss and its utter blackness will inevitably rise once more.

The ashes of Yuria of Londor read: _"Having three founders of the Black Church ensured Yuria's legacy would survive. Her two sisters could carry the torch, making certain their lord claims the flame, for the sake of all Hollows."_

On her death, she drops a sword connected to the death god, Nito, which is said to have claimed 100 lives, and the Black set describes her and her sisters as the mighty warriors of the Primordial Serpent, who offered salvation to hollows.

Yuria and her sisters were wracked with the pain of the curse, and found the remnants of the Abyss amongst the rubble of an ancient city of Undead, and were readily seduced by the promises of Kaathe, who survived the passage of the Chosen Undead, as he survived the passing of Gwyn, raising the Sable Church as a place to worship the Abyss.

The Fire would fade, and only Dark would remain, and for those who worshipped Darkness, salvation and rapture from hollowing were at hand.

Forgotten beneath the ruins of Lordran, the Sable Church, its three Founders, Kaathe, and the last Darkwraiths, blossomed into an entire nation. New Londo became the great kingdom of Londor, exiled from the world and deeply detested for the deceptive, treacherous hollows within.

Many Eons later, Kaathe learns of a Chosen Undead to lead them, a Lord Slayer, and sends Yuria, the middle Daughter of the Abyss, and countless Pilgrims to find him.

Yuria, once there, will either be slain in the name of protecting the dying First Flame, or find a new ally for Londor, but regardless of the outcome, Londor remains the seat of power for all Red Eye invaders and those who would see the Abyss grow. Regardless of belief or reason, like a moth to a flame, the Ashen One will be drawn to the land of Hollows and the growing dark within.

* * *

To find the Land of Hollows, one must go to a place where the Dark has already been deeply seated. The Profaned Capitol, filled with unutterable horrors is the perfect place to find such a whisper of Darkness.

Upon examining the large hall of treasure just before Yhorm's boss room, you can find a new item, by where all the ladies are standing together, one that will look very familiar to longtime fans of the series. Its description reads:

" _An old, plain pendant. The silver is deeply tarnished and the chain broken. Holding it fills one's heart with a deep, forlorn weariness, the unrest of Hollowing. An inscription lies upon the back, faded beyond reading. Hold this close to your heart when there is no light, and not a single Soul stirs."_

This of course refers to the Sable Church and the salvation of hollows. Taking the Pendant to the Untended Graves will do nothing at first, but when you take it to one of the many graves littered about, you will have the option to pray to the departed, initiating a cutscene.

Your character does indeed remove the pendant and examine it in the sunless gloom, tendrils of blackness weeping from the floor and ensnaring you, the screen fading as you are transported to a new realm.


	2. Pilgrim's Forest

You awaken, clearly disheveled, somewhere in a dense woodland, picking yourself up from the ground, the trees casting dense, shifting shadows over the area. The Pilgrim's Forest is, for the most part, entirely empty, everywhere you go, all you can hear is a strong wind waking around the two cliff faces above. The whole map is situated on two cliffs on either side of a massive gorge that runs down the middle of the canyon, the sky a dark reddish color, like sunset.

Walking down the narrow, battered stone road, there is just a deep sense of loneliness and isolation, as leaves from the trees fall all around and it becomes increasingly hard to see in the shade. The map follows this canyon a considerable distance, which is really easy to get lost in as you follow the overgrown path along all this rubble and cross the many bridges back and forth to progress at points. As it so happens, this is used to your enemy's advantage, as between the wind and the darkness it is very easy to lose track of all the dangers lurking around you.

There are numerous hunters with knives and bows hiding in the underbrush and trees that will readily go for backstabs, or snipe at you from a distance, and while you stick out like a sore thumb trying to stay on the path as it constantly breaks up and gets buried by debris, they have a habit of blending seamlessly into their environment.

Occasionally, one will drop his knife,

Manhunter's Blade: _"A long, curved dagger with deep serrations, fitted to pass through the ribs and target the heart, causing massive bleeding. Numerous hunters lurk in the woods surrounding Londor, seeking to slay the hollows that would find safe haven there, and breed more vile Darkwraiths._

 _Perhaps as an act of cosmic irony, or the closeness of the Abyss, every last hunter inevitably hollows himself._

 _Weapon Skill: Slayer's Blade. Aim carefully and lunge, executing an instant critical hit. The ability to instantly break the guard of a target and riposte, even against the surest of footing, mirrors the aggression and hatred felt for the despicable hollows of Londor."_

Like Gehrman, in Bloodborne, the lunge of the weapon art, if it connects, will immediately knock any humanoid off balance and place them into a riposteable state, as though they were guardbroken. The critical strike also does far more damage than usual, and, if you happen to be wearing the hornet ring, the animation will have them pinned to the ground and stabbed repeatedly.

The weapon art, however, consumes a significant amount of FP and Stamina, and has a sizable windup, so spamming it will not be very practical.

Their bow reads, Hollow Hunter's Bow. _"Bow of the sinister hunters that haunt the forest's outside Londor, who would seek to prevent the breeding of Darkwraiths. The bowstring is exceptionally taut, and optimized to drive arrows through the limbs and cripple them, allowing prone hollows to be intercepted and disposed of with knives._

 _Weapon Skill: Incapacitate. Bring bow back to a full draw, aim carefully, and drive an arrow through the limbs, greatly reducing movement speed and stamina recovery, allowing them to be finished off at close range. Works very well with lacerating arrows, as pierced limbs bleed gratuitously."_

As the description would suggest, getting hit by this attack causes you to slow walk, and your stamina to plunge for about 15 seconds, though you can still fatroll and recover stamina very slowly if you hold still. When paired with "Barbed Arrows", which can found on the corpses of the hunters, it will usually max out the bleed bar in two strikes. This is very dangerous in PvP and situationally useful in PvE as well. It has an S Dexterity scale and actually causes a little bit of bleed damage innately, which will scale with Luck.

Of course, there are also dogs, can't have a map without those, with shambling skeletons wearing rusted armor and weapons further into the woodland, should you press on.

In this little hunter's shack tucked away at the middle of the map, you can find the _Hollow Hunter Ashes_ , which can be brought to the handmaid to prepare this forester-meets-ninja outfit, as well as Barbed Arrows, the Manhunter's Blade, and Hollow Hunter's Bow. They read:

" _The Hollow Hunters, even in their hollowed state, still prey on passing undead, driven by intense hatred and cold persistence. What drives them to hate their fellow hollows? Is it the fear of the Dark they chase after, or the reminder that one day, the Humanity within all men will be drawn back into the Abyss, leaving them a shell of their former self."_

The most interesting moment is coming across these dead, rotted corpses of very small dragons, a faint hue of blue on their grey, stony scales. These are indeed the Lightning Drakes from the Valley of Drakes in Dark Souls 1, the passing of eons radically changing the landscape surrounding them.

One of these drakes, still alive, has clearly been corrupted by the abyss, with black tar oozing from the gaps in his scales and tendrils bursting from various parts of his skin. He will no longer fly or breathe lightning, but he is still very aggressive.

On death, he will drop a new weapon, it reads: Draketail Whip: " _The severed tail of an old Drake tainted by the Abyss, originating from the old Lake of Ash. The Dragons are long dead, but their ancestors still linger on._

 _Weapon Skill: Charged Lash; Swing the barbed spine around your body, and follow through with strong attack to lash forward with a prong of lightning that breaks the guard of a shield and causes a powerful knockback, imitating the strength of the Old Dragons."_

It scales C in both strength and dexterity, with a B scaling in Lightning, making it good for a Quality-Faith build.

When you are done exploring the area, you come to the final stretch, a large swathe of ruins among the trees, a cutscene marking the arrival of the first boss of the DLC.

A figure rises above a set of ruins, crawling over the debris, and slowly pulling himself upright. His body is nothing but amorphous tar, covered with numerous mouths and faces, silently flapping their mouths and gaping their eyes open, a red tarp thrown over the back. He is barely recognizable as human, but his mask is intact: a plain, silver pane over the face, with a pointed red hat still standing tall. A tin catalyst, deeply corroded by the Abyss, is grasped in a large hand to his side.

The _Gibbering Beast_ is very slow and cumbersome, the boss theme slow and sad, the strings telling the tale of a sad, lost hero, turned monster ( /watch?v=_IyI5TLRNvw ). As you fight him, he tries to swipe at you with his tin staff, and will vomit tar from the various mouths on his body to slow you.

The entire time, he will spout, in a ragged, gurgling voice, various lines, hinting at who he really was:

" _You… promised…"_

" _I… Trusted you, how could… Lordvessal… fall… Vile Treachery."_

" _The… Four Kings… seduced by the Art of Lifedrain… I thought you… better."_

" _How could you do this to me… Monster…"_

" _The Darkwraiths, cannot… run free._

" _All for… nothing."_

At phase two, he will start to scream, leaning up off the ground, the old Undead supporting himself with his staff. Here, he becomes significantly more dangerous, as he will vomit torrents of acid, which will now burn you, as well as tar to slow you down.

Rather than use his staff to strike, he will fire dark bolts and sorceries at you. His most dangerous ability is to start chanting various incomprehensible lines, which will rapidly build up curse. The only way to escape is to leap into one of the various pools of water, in order to drown out the sound. An option will appear to jump in when you stand near, which will allow you to leap in and pull yourself out safely, but if you stay submerged for too long, you will begin to lose health extremely fast.

You have to carefully balance diving into the water and taking the curse buildup in order to survive without getting cursed or losing a massive amount of health.

A pyromancer will have a significantly easier time than most, as this boss is very weak to fire and it will cause him to spew less tar.

When he is one hit from death, he will keel over and drop his staff, shrieking and gurgling. In that moment, he will return to consciousness, looking up at you through the mask, and speaking clearly in a very familiar tone:

"Brave undead… I am… Ingward… Sealer of New Londo. I am unworthy of this, but I must ask of you… a favor… use this… seal… key… to gain passage through the gates. Inside… Old Friend… Friend, no more… the Abyss… must be stopped, or all… will be lost…"

Sealer's Crest: _"The enchanted crest of a Sealer of New Londo, carried for a lifetime by Master Ingward should the gate ever have to be opened from the outside. The three sealers sacrificed everything in vain to contain the Darkwraiths, and only one remains, watching the walls."_

"Put an end to them… one last time. Now, if you would kindly… kill me…"

With only 1 HP, the old Sealer is struck down with ease, allowing you to go forward and carry his last hope with you.

His Soul and boss items read as:

" _Soul of the Gibbering Beast, former Sealer of New Londo. Master Ingward awaited the flash of light on the horizon marking the linking of the First Flame, but it never came, for the Undead was filled with dark and the promise of an age of man. Ingward spoke so many curses unto his former friend the Abyss warped him into a being with only mouths to curse with."_

" _Abyss Seal. An accursed ring that eats away at the lifeforce of the bearer, but raises the power of Dark Sorceries. The Dark is frightfully powerful and utterly black, and all who seek its strength are destined to be consumed by it. That, however, never deters those believe they can bear the burden, their Humanity being drained before their eyes."_

" _Spew of Tar (pyromancy). Vomit a torrent of black ooze that covers the ground and anything standing near, slowing them down and lowering defenses. Words of curse sometimes hold more deathly weight than the sharpest of swords."_

Ingward confirms that, in this timeline, the Chosen Undead became the Dark Lord, forcing someone else to link the fire. Whoever he may be, he is located somewhere in what was once New Londo, and you must defeat him to prevent the Abyss from spreading. Just as you defeated the Soul of Cinder to claim worthiness to Linking the Flame, you must defeat the Dark Lord to cull the Abyss.

Passing the stretch of woods he occupied, you come to the great doors of New Londo, unchanged since Dark Souls one all that time ago. Raising the Sealer's Crest, the doors will creep open, but rather than a torrent of water, you will be greeted by a mighty, towering city, rebuilt and renewed.

As you step through the gates, the location tag will appear as you approach the first bonfire:

 **Old Londor**


	3. Old Londor

Old Londor will remind anyone who's played Bloodborne of Yahar'ghul, the Unseen Village. Towering, gothic buildings loom over the narrow, winding alleyways and streets, and ominous chanting echoes over the parapets as unseen preachers chant their worship of the Dark. High on the hill, a grand monastery stands, overlooking the city below.

Londor is massive, as all the inaccessible areas of the first game have been rebuilt and renewed, the countless layers of architecture sprawling out as the countless hollows reclaimed the city, piece by piece, the flooding that exterminated the population completely undone.

Many hollows will be wandering the streets, the thieves and townsfolk attacking you with their wild, erratic patterns. They are dispatched pretty handily, except that laced among them are incredibly dangerous groups of Dark Magicians and Knights, which will kill you very easily if you are not careful.

A few of them will stand back, casting Dark Sorceries at a range, while others will rush in close. The melee hollows are very agile, and will attempt to encircle and disorient you with fast attacks and dodges, their armor appearing familiar.

They will drop:

Forlorn Armor. _"Hood/Gauntlets/Legging/Armor of an old caste of Hollows, displaced in time by an old scholar, and finding a place in Londor as defenders. The armor is ragged and beaten, but incredibly strong and resistant to the Dark, boosting the agility of wearers, as it has never fully settled into this time._

 _All hollows find their home in Londor, where the Abyss offers the promise of rest and freedom from the Flame."_

While wearing this, you will start sprinting the moment you hit O, rather than having the long delay between hitting it and actually running. You will also sprint faster, and running attacks cover more distance than usual.

Forlorn Straight Sword. _"Exquisitely sharp blades of the Forlorn Knights of Londor, which seem to pull the blood from the bodies of their victims. The Forlorn are lost souls, wandering without purpose or meaning, until the Sable Church turns them into ruthless defenders against intruders to the kingdom of hollows._

 _Weapon Skill: Forlorn Stance. Enter an aggressive stance, and follow with a light attack to slash at foes while leaping backwards, or strong attack to lunge with a punishing thrust, then keep hitting strong attack for consecutive deep slashes. The harrowed Souls of The Forlorn fight with phantom grace, hiding in the shadows until light is found, before appearing without warning and swiftly extinguishing it._

The magic wielders also drop a few items:

Londor Preacher Set. _"Hood/Gloves/Boots/Dress of the Preachers of Londor, who spread words of comfort and Dark to the denizens of Londor, followed closely by the vigilant Forlorn. The Hollows of Londor are wretched, secretive, and deeply enamored with the Abyss, their worship of Dark the only thing grounding their sanity to their emaciated bodies._

Londor Preacher Staff. _"Staff wielded by the preachers of Londor, able to cast miracles and sorceries, greatly enhancing Dark damage. The black crystal, and the pale, dead wood which holds it, were taken from the depths of the chasm beneath the Sable Church, and are saturated with Dark._

 _Weapon Skill: Steady Chant. Using this weapon Art boosts damage for a short time."_

The city is controlled by an absolute monarchy, operated from the Sable Church of Londor, and the Daughters of the Abyss, with various clerics and agents ensuring that order and sanity is kept on the streets, where so many hollows dwell, but not all of them are completely mad.

At one point, you can enter an Inn. There, a sane, hollow woman named Claribel, using the power of the Untrue Dark Ring to appear human, will serve you to the tune of faint, eerie but charming tavern music. Her services will depend on your level of hollowing:

0 Hollowing, No Dark Sigils: "Hmph, human are we… and not the illusory kind, I can smell it on 'ye. Ahh, Souls are Souls, can can I get ye?"

She will sell a few useful items and food, which will be described later, but it will be more expensive than usual, and not offer much benefit.

At 20 Hollowing: "Ahh, you must be a new arrival, I can smell the freshly rotten skin on 'yer bones. Welcome to Londor, a place for types like you and I. What can I get for 'ye, Lass/Lad?"

Prices will be lower, and she will sell more powerful healing items, and at over 50 Hollowing:

"Oh my! A new arrival, and just in time to. Right on the brink of cracking, I see. Londor welcomes you kindly. Here, have this, as my… greeting."

She will give you the best item she has for free, her prices will be far lower than usual, and she will sell a key to a spare room at the inn, which will have a bonfire to rest in, as well as a bed, a chest, and fresh Estus soup sitting in a bowl on the end table, everything else is for decorative purposes only. This will make the journey through Londor much easier, as it not only grants a good, central bonfire to explore the rest of the level from, but inside the chest, there is a set of clothes that will make all the hollows in the level non-hostile towards you:

Londor Citizen Set: _"The plain, drab, but surprisingly comfortable shirt (or dress if you're female)/gloves/boots of a hollow citizen of Londor. The Hollows of Londor are not to be trusted, but secretly yearn for normality and peace, and amble past one another with only their fragmented memories and Sable Church to guide them._

 _Sometimes, it is easy to forget the Hollows of Londor will just as soon greet you as plunge a dagger through the back, seeking Souls to fill the emptiness within them and Humanity to offer their Lord."_

This will only work on basic hollows, the Preachers, Forlorn Knights, and other towering guardsmen will see through the disguise and attack. You must wear the entire outfit to fool the citizens, and it offers basically no protection. Therefore, it is a pretty situational disguise, and it is up to you weather you want less defense in exchange for a few less enemies attacking or not.

After you get comfortable, Claribel will sell food and drinks of various qualities, depending on your level of Hollowing. You can only carry three of each, and they **do not stack on one another** , but they offer powerful benefits and you can buy as many as you want:

Tier 1:

Brackish Grog: _"A tin mug of pale, dirty water from one of Londor's contaminated wells. The taste is awful, but the undead will not get sick, so who cares, if it offers a little refreshment?"_ 100 Souls, Restores 200 HP.

Fungus Patty: _"A hunk of luminescent mushroom from one of the caves under Londor. Tastes faintly moldy and damp, and restores a small amount of FP."_ 300 Souls, restores 20 FP.

Rat Steak: _"The grilled meat of a Giant Rat, still faintly warm. Freshly cooked meat has filled hungry stomachs since time immemorial, and fills your body with new energy."_ 1,000 Souls, restores 300 HP and raises strength by 1 for three minutes.

Warty Stalk: _"Vile, spotted vine harvested from the dripping walls of Londor. Ingesting it has a faint narcotic effect, and is usually ground to a fine dust and burned as incense."_ 800 Souls, raises dexterity and attunement by 1 for three minutes.

Tier 2:

Londor Ale: _"A cask of cool, fresh ale refined from beats and fruits grown in the damp underground of Londor, by the lake. This staunch brew puts a fire in even the deeply hollowed and decayed, but repeat customers quickly become accustomed to the burn and learn to enjoy it._

 _Even a wretched hollow can find comfort in the simple things."_ 2,000 Souls, restores 500 HP and 30 FP.

Dried Peppers: _"A bundle of fresh spices of various plants, crushed and desiccated. Chewing these leaves a strong, pleasant burn, which sharpens the mind after a long day's grind."_ 1,800 Souls, Restores 50 FP.

Tainted Venison: _"Meat of a local deer, touched by the Abyss, yet still savory."_ 2,500 Souls, raises strength and dexterity by 2 for three minutes, restores 400 HP.

Strange Mushrooms: _"Oddly colored mushrooms, grilled and spiced for delectable consumption. Some say they rot the mind, others say they open it to grander possibilities. Consuming makes your cheeks feel tingly."_ 2,500 Souls, Raises Intelligence by 3 and Maximum FP by 20 points.

Cleric's Brew: " _Mug of warm, salty ale that fills the spirit with warmth, and is enjoyed by the Hollowed clergy of distant lands that sometimes wander through the gates of Londor seeking a new light._ " 2,500 Souls. Raises faith by 4, and enhances the effect of healing miracles for five minutes.

Blackberry Lozenge: _"Small, sweet candies that melt in the mouth. The lingering taste reminds one of home, and breaks the shackles of fatigue and unrest, allowing for greater perception of the world. Some deride candy as childish things, but sometimes, childish things are all a weary undead has."_ 2,000 Souls, raises Luck by 3 and item discovery by 5% for five minutes.

Tier 3:

Dark Moongrass Wine: _"Bottle of spectacular brew of the highest quality, produced from the small, deep blue berries of Dark Moongrass, a rare herb that only blossoms under the moonless sky._

 _Only in Londor can one find such exquisite blooms in abundance, as the perpetual gloom of the grounds above the chasm swallows all light that would disturb them."_ 10,000 Souls, Fully restores HP and Focus, Raises maximum HP and Focus by 10%, and regenerates Health and Focus for one minute. Claribel gives you one for free if you have over 50 Hollowing the first time you speak to her.

Pilgrim Stew: _"A thick, tasty broth with mixed meats, spices, and plants captured around the valley near Londor._

 _The Hollows are hesitant to step into the light, making a stew of this variety a rarity. Named for the Pilgrims that wander through the gates of Londor seeking refuge, and the comfort a good meal brings."_ 4,000 Souls, recovers 1000 HP and 100 FP.

Spiced Bear Steak: _"A slab of meat from a bear of the Forests of Londor, grilled, diced, and spiced. A favorite of famished knights in need of a heavy meal."_ 4,500 Souls, raises strength by 4, and increases stamina and equip load by 10%. Resist 10% more damage for one minute.

Wizard's Draught: _"A strong herbal tea, saturated with crushed spices. Some complain about the grainy texture, but the great boon to magic power is well worth it."_ 6,000 Souls, lowers FP cost of spells by 15%, and raises magic attack power by 7% for 2 minutes.

Clergy Salt: _"A powerful salt, crafted by drying holy water laced with minerals native to Londor and harvesting the resulting crust. The taste is like rolling a ball of molten lead in the mouth, but the Londor Preacher's sense a tangible closeness to the Abyss when consuming."_ 6,000 Souls, Raises Miracle power by 7%, healing miracles cost less and heal more for 5 minutes.

Bandit's Brew: " _A cheap, easy to carry rum, extraordinarily popular among thieves. It is not an uncommon sight to see hollow bandits raising a victory toast with this grog upon a successful raid, making this both a drink of victory, and of tragedy."_ 7,000 Souls, raises dexterity and luck by 4 and critical strikes restore FP and Health by 10% for 1 minute.

Room Key: _"Key to one of the unoccupied rooms of The Groggy Crag. The Hollows of Londor will spend a lifetime trying to manufacture an elaborate replication of human life, sometimes forgetting themselves entirely, lost in their fantasy of days before the Darksign, before their first death."_ 20,000 Souls, unlocks a new Bonfire.

If you talk to Claribel, she will talk a little bit about herself and her Inn, before dropping the conversation:

"Me? I'm just a humble keeper. Always 'ave been. I think…"

"I came here looking to start again. The place is pretty hostile to newcomers, but I've gotten used to it. It's honest living here, some days, I forget I'm not all right in the 'ead." ***creepy laugh***

"Some people think Undead can't enjoy a good meal, a fine lay, or any of that nonsense. Well, that's just not true at all. I like it here. I like it more than… then…."

"My food is good for the body, and the heart. Make it all meself. It's the wildlife around here that does it. Humanity leeched into everything, very strong medicine to we Undead. You can hardly find it anymore, but here? Well… what do ye' think you're standing on?"

"You run along now, I'm sure you have business to attend to. 'Lot more out there than little old me." ***creepy laugh*** (loops)

If you try to attack her, she will exclaim:

"What?"

"What are you doing! Stop."

" _Wretched brute_ …" Claribel draws a plain, unassuming kitchen knife and initiates combat.

Claribel will prove to be _exceedingly_ more dangerous than she appears, moving incredibly fast and dealing extremely high levels of damage with her seemingly inferior weapon.

She will start by executing the battle shout usually reserved for axes, and will retain a red aura through the fight. She is able to use the dagger quickstep an unlimited number of times, and uses that to deadly effect by dodging through your attacks and evading any projectiles and magic. When she closes in, rather than hitting right away, she thrusts her palm forward at the end of the dodge, instantly knocking you off balance with the hilt of her knife, followed by a few incredibly strong slashes and thrusts, followed by another push forward.

Anyone who's played Demon's Souls will likely have PTSD triggers as she gouges your health.

Should you try to lash out with a panic R1, she will immediately parry with her dagger, initiating the Hornet Ring riposte and likely ending the fight right there. She will be able to tell the difference between a parryable and unparryable attack.

Kick cheese is also ineffective, as she will put up her forearms in a cross block to deflect your kick, before knocking you flat with a kick to the jaw.

If her health gets to about 30%, she will take a passive stance, evading all of your moves and waiting to parry you. When she lands the parry, or otherwise knocks you to the ground, she will immediately drink a Dark Moongrass Wine. She is able to do this three times, before using two Estus like a normal NPC.

Upon killing you, she will leave you with a finishing line. You will notice that her tone is dramatically different from earlier:

"Pathetic… if you have any sense, _you won't come back…_ "

If you are somehow able to win this very tough fight:

"W- why? What did I do to you?" She will drop her weapon for you to pick up:

Kitchen Knife: _"A plain, ordinary kitchen knife with no exceptional properties whatsoever. Used to dice vegetables and meat. The blade is getting dull with repeated use, and should be sharpened. Only a fool would bring such a useless implement into battle of any kind."_

Has 1 damage with an E Strength and E Dexterity scale, making it a joke weapon in every sense of the term. She will also drop:

Forsworn Ashes: _Ashes of a woman who gave up her name and identity, striping her old self off to pursue a humble life as an innkeeper. These ashes are cold, with nary a whisper of the soul that once dwelt within._

Which unlocks her tier one inventory at the Shrine Handmaid, but her quest will break and her best items will be lost forever.

There is far more to her than meets the eye, which will be discovered through further exploration of the area.

There are two paths to follow, one leading up towards the Sable Church up above, and the other in a hidden space.

At the well, where one could find a few cracked red eye orbs in Dark Souls one, there is a way to get above the wellhead, jumping into the depths, and finding a secret system of tunnels below the map.

As you approach the hidden bonfire, hip high water surrounding you, the Area Tag will appear:

 **Festering Grotto**


	4. Festering Grotto

The ruins beneath Londor are perhaps one of the most frightening, hostile environments in the Souls series. Luminescent fungus and nearly extinguished torches along the cramped, winding walls are the only source of light, if you didn't bring a torch. The water is murky and black, with green algae and fungus floating around the corridors. Shambling hollows, bleached white with the lack of light, are covered with plants and decay, dragging themselves along the maze and letting out deathly moans.

The Grotto is extremely easy to get lost in, as there are multiple branching paths and corridors, and there is this element of claustrophobia as enemies often flank either side of a tunnel, or emerge from the water, which conceals numerous fatal drops if you are not cautious.

One of the most dangerous enemies are large, shiny black blobs with great gaping maws, massive, deformed leeches, nearly bursting with the devoured flesh in their guts, lashing out with clawed hands, and occasionally attempting to grab you and stuff you in its maw, swallowing you whole and almost certainly resulting in an instant death. Killing them will drop Bleed Stones rarely.

Jellyfish float around a few ponds and rivers, stabbing you will sharp barbs if you get too close and rapidly building up toxin. Killing them will rarely net you a Poison Stone.

In one room filled with these jellyfish, you can find a large, crude spear with a sharp bone at one end:

Jellyfish Quill Spear: _"The Barb of an abyssal jellyfish, the poison sack is still attached. All manner of vile creature lurks in the depths below Londor, finding a home where there is no light. Only the most wretched, desperate Hollows call the depths their home, and fashion such crude weapons to protect themselves._

 _Weapon Skill: Toxify. Aim carefully, and drive the spear forward, twisting the barb deep into the flesh of victims, draining a larger dose of toxin into them."_

The spear acts like the partizan, with both slashing and thrusting attacks. The normal attacks use only poison, but the heavy attacks and weapon art cause toxin, as well as poison. It has poor scaling, but with high luck, the poison builds up very fast on successful hits, and it is one of the only weapons that can both poison and toxin.

Towards the middle, there is a thick crust of coral-like substance, which breaks open into a mass of grasping hands, the walls bleeding puss as they reveal the hollows caked into the wall. This crust is all over, and restricts you from standing too close to the wall, as the puss almost immediately triggers the Toxic effect and the hands can stun you, making you vulnerable to the other enemies still looming in the dark.

Behind an illusory wall, and in the gut of a waiting leech behind several layers of hollow coral, is a ring relevant to an NPC you met earlier:

Pale Bloodgem: _"A steel ring, now covered with rust and filth, with a brilliant, deep crimson gemstone that has since lost its luster._

 _Once belonged to Ednatiel, a legendary warrior assassin whose unparalleled skills with a blade struck terror into the hearts of her adversaries. When the curse claimed her, she was undone, and her ring vanished along with her._

 _Wearing this ring channels the desire for blood and violence, inducing frenzied euphoria, at the cost of lowered defenses."_

Wearing has no obvious effect at first, until you start swinging your weapons around a bit. You take 20% more damage from physical attacks, but your stamina consumption and recovery speed are reduced significantly, allowing you to attack faster and more often, and you roll further and faster than usual. This is especially noticeable on slower weapons, or when comboing R1s and R2s that wouldn't usually combo, as it just erases that down time between swings, though it will not make the actual swing faster. But, as it suggests, this boost in aggression will also make you vulnerable to damage, so it's very risky to use.

That is not the only secret place, looking around the area near the boss, there is a very risky jumping section that, if done right, will land you on an outcropping, where you can simply walk into a hidden chamber. At the center is a broken platform, the black marble shattered, with several pillars that have since been smashed and toppled.

At the back of the room, you will be met with a familiar face, a robed figure in a wheelchair, only, the man in the black cloak is nothing but a long, long decayed skeleton, the wheels on his chair nearly completely broken off and the wood rotten and bleached. His face is nothing but a white beard and two empty, black sockets set on stretched skin.

If you stand near for too long, he will silently raise a hand, shaking a bell, unleashing a deadly Wrath of the Gods that will heavily injure you if you do not escape.

Striking the wheelchair bound, immobile hollow will immediately kill him, dropping yet another familiar item:

Dragon Chime: _"Large silver bell with a noble dragon carving. Boasts an extraordinary boost to lightning damage._

 _This holy bell was found deep within the Abyss by an old sage seeking the elucidation of the Dark, and remained by his side until he too was rotted and hollow. Even surrounded by Darkness, the bell's toll calls forth furious torrents of lightning, a vestige of the Cleric who braved the Dark with this chime by his side._

 _Weapon Art: Heavenly Thunder. Raise this chime above one's head and call down furious lightning bolts to incinerate nearby targets, with increased poise immediately afterward. While Faith is associated with healing and prayer, the fury of the Sunlight Warriors is a thing even the Dark fears."_

With the highest possible S Scale and a 30% boost to lightning damage, this is the absolute best chime for combat miracles. The weapon art, while costly, will greatly damage nearby opponents, as it triggers an explosion of lightning that surrounds your body and deals heavy damage, followed by lightning strikes that target nearby enemies (it places lightning bolts where they are standing at the time of casting. If they move, it will miss). Increased poise for further miracle casting lasts 10 seconds.

However, using it requires 50 Faith, and it can only cast Lightning based miracles, Dark Miracles will prompt the "scratch head" animation, as well as healing miracles. This chime is only for people who want to be battle clerics.

With the secrets out of the way, there is only the optional boss left:

At the end of the Grotto, one starts to notice that, aside from the dank corals and mosses, there are shattered tower walls, with soot scorched stone and iron pillars marking the distinctive architecture of Brume Tower, as though a part of the structure was smashed into the ground and broke apart as it descended. This is not coincidental, due to the item you find near the center of the area, by a twisted mass of scrap metal.

The name appears only briefly, but you know what it is when the cutscene begins. Your character stoops down low, the camera panning over the very surface of the water as he pulls something from the mire, bringing it up.

You see the spiny, charred Iron Helm, covered with muck, cradled in your hands, your character wiping the mud off the brilliant ruby in the center.

The room shakes, your character looking around in confusion, seeing the tendrils of dark sweeping forward, gathering at the rubble before you. The twisted mass of iron starts to grind and churn, water spewing up as the mass rises, chains rattling as you see the iron plates stretch and shutter, rattling unsteadily as the creature pulls itself upright.

As it comes together, you finally make it out: a half completed, deformed dragon made of Iron, bits and pieces broken off, half his skull completely missing, with a full lower jaw and upper jaw, but no orbital socket, horn, or temple on the left. Ancient mechanisms and gears grind and twist, hissing as it drags itself up, roaring at you, only it is choked and repressed.

The _Smelter Dragon_ lumbers unsteadily, his theme a sad canter as the great, artificial monster attempts to attack you, though he strains against the chains and malformed, half molten iron strapped into his sides, as though the scaffolding used in its construction was never fully removed (/watch?v=Q9yg8eyrfp4, first half).

He uses his head to ram you and front claws to sweep at you, though he is pretty easy to evade. He will occasionally spew napalm over the environment, the oil floating on the water and continuing to burn for a fairly long period, though you have ample space to move.

He will thrash as well, shaking the chains and possibly dealing damage if one of the many pieces of scrap metal hit you as he is moving.

He has unbelievably high HP, beyond any hope of damaging him in a meaningful way, so you have to find and attack his weak points to cripple him. These take the form of various nodes on his body, where you can see steam hissing out. Hitting these nodes enough times causes them to burst, releasing a spray of burning oil into the water, steam hissing from the wound as it smolders red.

It becomes progressively harder to get close to him without the burning oil floating on the water hitting you, so it takes patience and care, but it is perfectly possible to catch him during his recovery and damage him without having to stand on the burning points.

After bursting five nodes, equal to about 100,000 damage, or 5/6 of his health, he will emit a pained roar and hunker down, the sound of screeching metal filling the air as he pushes the chains to the point of exploding off him, the Dragon breaking all the spare pieces away and leaving him with far less metal, but slimmer.

His wings burst open, unfurling, skeletal with no tarp between them, but nonetheless imposing as his dark, cold metal body bursts into a blindingly hot fire as he lets out a far more powerful roar.

His theme becomes far more regal and proud, the masterpiece his creator never got to see (see Yhorm's stage 2 theme).

This is where the real battle begins, since he still has about 20,000 HP, but you cannot burst anymore points. He is easily one of the hardest bosses in the DLC, and will swiftly kill you his with both his extreme attack power, as well as his speed.

He uses tactics from every dragon you've fought in the series thus far. He will sprint forward, throwing his body into a powerful, serpentine lunge forward with his head out, use his front claws to lash out and stomp you, as well as try to bite you.

He also borrows a few moves from Sinh, breathing fire down his side if you linger too long, as well as spinning multiple times on the spot, causing heavy damage if you come into contact with all the flying chains and metal stirred from the violent motion.

He also has a few new moves. If you stand beneath or behind him, he will lean upright and breathe torrents of napalm into the water, creating a great plume of fire that will spread out over the water. He will roar to knock you off your feet, setting you up for a follow up as you stand up, requiring extremely fast reflexes on wakeup.

His deadliest new move is to use his wings like giant scythes, as they are very long and cover a massive area, and he loves to use them im combination with other moves to keep you disoriented.

It's a battle of patience and fast reaction speed as you wear down his HP, though he is very weak to lightning, and evade the lingering torrents of flaming oil on the water until they go out, though the damage is very light if you have to stand in the fire to damage the boss.

Since I died like a bitch the first try, I got a chance to look at the crown on my way back:

Iron Crown: _"Crown that once belonged to the Old Iron King, Lord of a great fortress of iron, which sunk to the depths of the earth under the weight of his sins. Still retains an echo of the immense flame in his soul, which fueled his great aptitude with pyromancy._

 _Many monarchs have come and gone, and every one failed to take the true throne, the Iron King no exception._

 _In time, a true monarch made four kings one, and united their crowns, only to abandon them along with the rest of the realm."_

So the Bearer of the Curse is known of, and relics of Drangleic have found their way to Lothric, and now New Londo. Is this possible foreshadowing for the next DLC? Maybe.

Wearing the crown, like in Dark Souls 2, will restore your Focus points, regenerating at a rate of 1 per second, with 20% burst every one minute, which is marked by the "warmth" heal sound. Interestingly, it will not stop you from hollowing on death, which means Vendrick's blessing is absent. Or perhaps, it was never the crown to begin with…

Going back for a rematch with Smelter Dragon, I found a Sunbro sign, which summoned an NPC called "Abbot Lue."

He's very useful for the fight, as he uses a greatshield to soak damage from the dragon, and launches very powerful sunlight spears from a Dragon Chime when at a safe distance, using "My Thanks!" upon successfully defeating the boss.

After beating the Smelter Dragon, you have his Soul and a few items that you can transpose:

" _Soul of the Smelter Dragon, a failed creation of the Old Iron King._

 _The Old Iron King had power over flame, so much so he could grant life to the lifeless, binding cold metal to the will of the flames. But, even he could not capture the might and nobility of dragons, and he eventually cast his failed creation into the depths of one of his towers, condemned and forgotten._

 _The Smelter Dragon never flew, as the sky seems forever out of the reach of man."_

Smelter Axe: _"A massive greathammer with many serrated heads, bringing it closer to resembling a mace. These were fashioned for the great iron goliaths that stomped around the grand tower of Brume, and were never intended for a human to wield._

 _Such immense armaments perfectly reflect the inhuman strength and crushing will of the Iron King, whose ambition condemned his iron kingdom to the depths._

 _Weapon Art: Whirligig Strike. Draw the hammer back, and throw full weight into a series of spins, followed by a lunge forward using the sheer momentum of such a massive body in motion. Surely, only the dangerously mad would dedicate themselves to such an outlandish tactic."_

Requires 60 strength to wield, and it weighs a metric ton, but it has the classic Dark Souls 2 greathammer moveset, complete with the spin 2 win, though the axe heads drag the floor with sparks flying, to signify the drag as it rotates. Also, Superman Dive, because it's just too fun to not use, though it will take away a massive amount of focus and stamina to use the L2.

At the cost of being slow and clumsy, it has absurd striking power, and actually deals both strike AND slash damage.

Dance of Fire (Pyromancy): _"Raise a powerful blast of flame, which will then sweep back and forth midair, as though excited to be unleashed and dancing with glee. The flame provides warmth and comfort, but also ample power of destruction when allowed to run wild._

 _The Iron King, whose towering forges could be seen in the blackest night, was closer to the Abyss than he would ever know."_

Like Dark Souls 2, it will cause a dark red flame to appear to the side, sweeping around, only this time it will not vanish, and instead erratically dance side to side, tracing up, down, forward, and backward over a semicircle, providing an area denial as well as a smoke screen for further attacks. Lingers for about 5 seconds before vanishing

Requires 35 intelligence and 20 faith to cast, and is very damaging on top of being unpredictable, with makes it very dangerous in the proper hands.

With that, you are able to warp back to Old Londor to continue the DLC.


	5. Grave of Hollows

A/N: Haaalo. Next chapter is likely going to be delayed, since this one has taken fucking forever (like four times as long) as the other ones, and the next couple are going to be biggies as well. The previous few were all finished in a few hours each, just been holding on to them to space it out a little, but yeah, it is very unlikely you will see next chapter tomorrow.

* * *

After exiting the Grotto, the way forward is towards the upper echelon of Londor, however, since we found the hidden ring in the last level, it's time to pay another visit to the NPC we met earlier.

Warping back to the Inn, Claribel will be in her usual spot, if you speak to her, you will have the option to show the Pale Bloodgem to her. Her response will be immediate:

"What is that? I… that's _my_ ring, where did you find it?"

"I… No, that can't be right…"

"No… I… I remember now. You shouldn't have brought that thing back. I threw it down there for a reason, I'd all but forgotten, until now. That thing… it only brings death and misery, it was better off in the depths."

"So, now that you know my little secret, what now? Are you going to shun me?"

 **Condemn** : "Can't say I blame you. Well, I won't bother you, just leave me to my memories." (loops, closes her quest, and she will not sell you items)

 **Forgive** :

If you have less than 50 Hollowing: "How kind of you, a human taking pity on a poor, Hollow girl like me. I guess not _all_ of you are bad." This will prematurely close the quest, she will still sell you items.

If you have greater than 50 Hollowing: "You're serious… well, I suppose we're both finely hollowed, huh? I could sense something good about you, when you came in. Death, after death, after death. And yet, here you are, still lucid as the day you were born. I understand the Burden, of being lost in this mad, dying world, and lacking even the blessing of a dull mind."

"I was a knightess, of a noble house, a long time ago. That's all I can remember… Mirrah, I think. I became a blade in the dark, and hunted for money, and then for Souls, after I turned that is. It was bloody, awful work."

"I think… I think a part of me enjoyed it. Oh, I eventually stopped hiding in the dark, I just waded into the fray. I took pride in how I could slay my quarry, didn't even need to backstab. It got so easy."

"When I wasn't fighting, I felt my skin crawling all over me, like I was going to burst."

"I thought it would give me a purpose, to stop the Hollowing. Ah, what a young fool I was. I lost nearly all my senses, at night, I would dream that I had become one of the mindless beasts, without even a name."

"I was afraid… and that fear drove me to give up fighting. I came to Londor with a new name, a new purpose. Now, I bring comfort to the lost. I no longer cast a grim shadow wherever I stand. Afterall, I'm already in one great shadow."

"Ahhh, listen to me breaking down like a mewling babe, speaking so morbidly. I guess it's been far too long since I've experienced this… kinship."

"…What? Why are you looking at me that way? Do you expect me to start carrying your hide around? Relive the glory days and all that nonsense."

No: "Good, I was worried there." Closes her quest, she will lower her prices and act far more friendly.

Yes: " ***laughs*** I think you cracked your head on the way down that well. It's been ages, I only just remembered my name, do you really trust me to protect you? Even in my prime days, I worked alone. I'm only good for protecting myself."

No: "Good."

Yes: "I don't think you understand. This is my home now, I mean, I hate the damn Sable Church as much as anyone, stealing our Souls and Humanities, breeding all manner of vile wretch that would just as soon murder their neighbor as befriend them. But, not enough for me to have a sudden urge to murder again."

Do Nothing: exactly what it says.

Offer Ring: "D-Damn you! You're stubborn as the old ass outside the stable, damn you!"

" ***Huff*** You just don't give up… Alright, I'll help you. But, not out of any righteous urges, or vows, I just want some peace around here. And…"

"Nevermind… I'll leave my sign outside the grave. Ah, I should probably warn you. The front gate is locked tight, nothing gets in. The only other way I know of is the graveyard, which runs around the terrace below, there should be a sewer tunnel, which you can use to gain entry from the basement."

"Passing the graves is easy to talk about, but if you intend to get that far, expect a nasty fight. The Gravewardens and Undertakers prowl those grounds like vultures, and they don't take kindly to uninvited visitors. The Souls of the dead, from way back to the flood, swarm the area as well. Your weapons will not help you, not even slightly. If you see them, run. Unless you are able to find a transient curse, to bring you down to their level, or use the proper piece of equipment."

"Hmm, since I mentioned it…" She grants a new spell:

Curse Weapon (Dark Miracle): _"A black art from an old land, said to symbolize a great, piercing blade._

 _Binds the blackest of energies to cold steel, inflicting numbing, painful wounds that no earthly matter can repel. A cursed blade can rend even the ethereal._

 _How such a deathly corruption of miracle power can still exist will remain a mystery so long as its use lingers on."_

Has very low requirements, only 10 Faith, 10 Intelligence, and Two Attunement slots, and it lasts five minutes. Your HP will drain at a rate of 5 HP per second, and raise physical AR by 10%. The benefit is that it will ignore all defenses of any enemy, as though they were wearing no armor. This essentially means that anything you hit with a Cursed weapon has a defense value of 0, or 110% of physical AR connects.

This also applies to shields, hitting a shield will cause your weapon to reflect as usual, but the damage will go straight through it. Obviously benefits a heavier weapon, but it will make damaging highly physically resistant enemies much easier.

Ednatiel continues: "A trinket I picked up, a long time ago. I will leave my sign, and await your signal."

"Well, what are you still doing here? We have people to kill." (Loops)

With that done, we are ready to head towards the Sable Church with our new friend. At the end of Old Londor, a towering gate stands in the way of the front entrance, leaving a path to the left, which snakes around the base of the plateau.

Sliding the rusted iron gate open, you are greeted to an eerie, brilliant sight as the area tag appears:

 **Grave of Hollows**. The area is characterized primarily by sloping piles and clusters of graves, a narrow path stretching around in the pale light filtering through the gaps in the cave ceiling in the back, setting a faint blue hue over the twisted, barren trees. Clusters of Darkmoon Grass grow on the sides of the path, and vines and underbrush have grown wild here and there.

* * *

Ednatiel's sign is near the first bonfire, and will read "Ednatiel the Nail", which will bring her in. She will be in human form. Her weapon, a shortsword, is completely unique, but her armor is the Binded Set from Demon's Souls, the one that Miralda wore. Which is nice, considering that is one of my favorite armor sets in the entire series but it has never made an appearance since then.

She will stand with crossed arms until you walk away, but she actually has exceedingly unique AI, and will respond to various actions you perform:

Random Gesture/Shield Dancing: "What are you doing?", "Yeah, sure." "Gods almighty, one of _those_ Undead…"

Applause: Dignified Bow

Any type of Bow: Dignified Bow

Any type of Prayer or kneel: "I'm flattered."

Legion Etiquette: Silent Conviction

Point Down: ***throws a dagger at your head*** (yes, it can inflict damage)

Staring at her Chest/Butt with binoculars: "Don't think I can't see you.", "Is this really the time for that?", "Stop that, now.", "…", she will walk up and slap the binoculars out of your hands after the third warning.

Staring at her face with binoculars: "A little intrusive, don't you think?", "Ever heard of personal space?"

Healing her with miracles: "Ahhh…", "About time you did something useful.", "That felt good."

If you get invaded by NPCs, or by other players: "Oh…", "This should be entertaining."

But if you try to get her to Gank, she will just stand with her arms crossed: "What's the matter, afraid of a little Darkwraith?", "Fight your own battles.", "Sorry, I don't cater to cowards…", "I'm not your nanny, fight back."

She will clap if you win, as well as offer words of encouragement when you land successful parries.

If you die at any point, she will Look Skyward, unlocking the gesture for you to use.

You have to defeat the boss with her to progress the quest, you do not have to clear the level with her present, but you can if you want to.

Ednatiel is exceedingly capable, and can easily keep up with you if you stay nearby. She casts "Curse Weapon" against ghosts, which will cause her blade to turn completely black with a faint purple haze, and use her melee and parry skills to shred through basic mobs with extreme speed and efficiency.

However, she still needs assistance, as her skills are single combat only. If she gets zerg rushed and surrounded, especially by the bigger enemies that can't be push-locked, she will get beaten up a great deal. She can only heal a few times with Estus in combat, but she can cast nigh-unlimited warmth.

After taking a fair amount of damage after a skirmish, she will place Warmth, and if you stand near, sit down and rest under it while she recovers. This will also heal you, so you can sit by her and wait to heal. This only happens if all the enemies in the immediate vicinity are dead, if something is attacking either of you, she will Estus instead, so it pays to help her clear the level so she will not take too much damage and waste a heal and instead use Warmth.

Conversely, if _you_ place warmth, she will run over and rest under it.

The main undead enemies you face are the undertakers, hollows with funeral garb and shovels, dragging bags of bodies, shoveling dirt, and absently wandering. A few cart pushers on the path will hilariously attempt to run you over, taking off top speed with their body cart, plowing you down, and slowly screeching to a stop and shuffling their way back around to do it again.

The undertaker hollows are not too dangerous, but have a habit of swarming if you are not careful, and the occasionally half-rotten bodies will burst from their graves and crawl after you, grabbing your feet and preventing you from running a short time.

In fact, there is one enemy wielding a hammer that can be seen driving giant stakes into the ground, hands sticking out of the dirt. It appears they are having trouble keeping the dead in the ground. The hammer wielders tower over you, and are very hard to down. They can also grab you, pulling you off your feet with one hand, before drawing a stake from their rattling bundle and ramming one through you

The Gravewardens, with their twinblades, are significantly more dangerous, and are drawn when hollows occupying one of several bells begin to ring them wildly for assistance.

The deadliest adversary are the New Londo ghosts, the phantoms strongly resembling their first iteration. They are completely intangible, allowing them to easily fade through the environment in order to outmaneuver and zerg rush. They are also immune to every weapon, save for the Astora Straight Sword, Crescent Axe, Wolf Knight Greatsword, and other holy weapons, though a cursed weapon or transient curse will make them vulnerable short term.

Another dangerous enemy to beware of only appears a few times, and while not a threat themselves, are devastating if you do not go out of your way to kill them first. They raise a black lantern, swaying it back and forth and unleashing a rapidly expanding cloud of blackness. It turns out to be _Numbness_ , if you touch it, you gain damage resistance, but also total blindness.

Not everything is hostile, as you can find another friend lingering beneath a tree. Graverobber Fredrick appears short and squat, hunkered to the ground and looking up towards you beneath a heavy black coat.

"Hehe, hello, weary traveler! I have a fine haul of mmm precious loot, if you've the souls. Or, if 'ye feel like croakin' feel free to do it nearby, that would be most gracious!"

He sells various bug pellets, resins, and basic weapons, though the Transient Curses he sells will be the most useful of the lot. He also vends his armor set and a Shovel, which can be used as a weapon:

Graverobber Coat: _"Heavy black cloak, crafted to blend into the evening gloom. The stitches are coming apart and dried mud is caked into the fabric, but it offers fantastic resistance to Frostbite and Dark._

 _Numerous sacks filled with pillaged goods adorn the under shirt, marking this as the garb of a Graverobber, who preys on the endlessly resurrecting dead."_

Graverobber Gloves: _"Tough leather gloves, crafted to drag heavy materials from their rest. The fabric is so stiff it can barely flex, and the threads have nearly worn through, but it offers fantastic resistance to Frostbite and Dark._

 _Clear indentations on the palm, from treasure pulled from its rest_ _countless times, mark these as the gloves of a Graverobber, who preys on the endlessly resurrecting dead."_

Graverobber Boots: _"Sturdy black boots, built to walk over uneven rocks and graves. The soles have nearly ripped from the pad, and drag the ground constantly, but they offer fantastic resistance to Frostbite and Dark._

 _Rocks, fragments of names and epitaphs, are embedded into the heel, marking these as the boots of a Graverobber."_

Shovel: _"A plain worker's spade, used to dredge up the earth, presumably to lay graves and gardens._

 _This farmers tool was never intended as a weapon, but between the tough wooden shaft and sharpened steel head, this can serve as an impromptu weapon if the need is truly dire._

 _Weapon Skill: Galvanize, temporarily boost stamina recovery speed by sheer force of will, or perhaps as a channeling of the original owner's industrial efforts."_

Classified as an axe, though the light one handed and two handed R1s are spearlike pokes, while the R2s are downward sloping smash attacks. Scales A in strength and D in Dexterity, with an average AR.

His most interesting item is a set of four keys, outrageously expensive all things considered, but they unlock tombs and crypts that are otherwise inaccessible, two of which have great items to grab. If you buy all four keys, and loot all four tombs, he will place his sign by the boss, and serve as an ally, as well as offer a grim warning:

"Wow, 'ye got 'em all, ye' cheeky bugger. Thank you kindly for the souls. I guess I'll pay ye' back by lending a hand on yer' hard travels. Oh, but uh… I hope ye' weren't planning on sneaking yer' way into the Sable Church. The Souls of the damned roam that place in droves, especially… well…"

"'Ave you ever seen a Giant? Not like one of 'em, big fellas just stomping about, I mean, a real giant? The kind that can kill 'ye with just a glance? We got one of those prowling the graves, think he's stuck there, watchdog… or sumin'. Nasty, nasty beastie…" (loops)

As to why he is holding the keys, rather than just looting the crypts: "Ach, don't get me wrong, there is no nook or cranny I can't squeeze meself into but… uh… well, some of the tombs around here are a bit unfriendly for my like, or just 'ad something not worth the bother. Now… 'yer souls, never can 'ave too many souls."

"What's in there 'ye say? 'Ave you no adventurous spirit? One way to find out… mmm, treasure, great treasure behind them doors, does it not arouse you?"

If you decide to attack him, he will cry out, before going silent. You may notice he has a very tanky health bar. Without a word, he will open his coat, placing a hand on his knee and pushing himself all the way upright. He towers over you, drawing a massive shovel, which he will beat you to death with most ingloriously, as well as using his free hand to grapple, smashing you into the ground or throwing you to the side. He can also execute powerful leap attacks.

Killing him, he will curse you: "Blasted… Hollow…"

Dropping the Graverobber Ashes: _"Ashes of a simple Graverobber, who mucks around the graves of Londor._

 _The line between hollow and living and hollow and dead is a thin and blurry one indeed, though the Graverobbers think little of it in their plundering."_

His inventory will be unlocked at the shrine handmaid, but you lose him as a summon, and the four keys will be greatly more expensive than usual.

Now, as to what those four keys unlock, they are here, in descending order of cost and the loot they unlock:

* * *

Ornamental Tomb Key: _"A brass key with several engravings and decorations across it. Likely belonging to a hero of the past._

 _Young and Old, Rich and Poor, Mighty and Lame, no matter the disparity, all men will hollow one day._

 _The graves overflow with the once mighty and powerful, Now, they are all just dead."_

The Tomb is a little more accessible than most, leading you to a rotunda with a single coffin in the center. Pushing it open, you are able to loot the item:

Ivory King Ultra Greatsword: _"Ancient Greatsword that belonged to a king of Old, used to slay Chaos demons._

 _The Ivory Ore of the Boreal Valley once shone brightly in the sun, channeling great arcane power, but has since turned dull and ashen, burned in the fires of Chaos. This sword has passed multiple hands, its thorny blade still sharp over the eons, craving the flesh of the impure._

 _Weapon Art: Ivory King Stance. Grasp firmly in both hands and channel the might of the King for a brief time. The fearless lord of Eleum Loyce, the greatest of the Forrosa Lion Knights, stood before the gates of Chaos, challenging the Demons to pass him._

 _None of them did."_

This sword shares the same moveset as the claymore, albeit a little slower, and will smolder a bit as you two-hand it, but the giant lightsaber blade is not a thing on it…

Until you use the weapon art. You drag your arm along it, materializing the buff. I deals a flat 25% of it's AR in Magic Damage, or 25% extra power if the blade and buff connect, but it lasts only 15 seconds and it wrecks your FP and item Durability.

You gain a pretty sizable boost to hyperarmor and the blade switches movesets from claymore to Loyce Greatsword (full speed). Jumping attacks will make you do that crazy leaping slash, complete with a small _FIIIIIIIIIII_

Other than that, it is identical to its Dark Souls 2 counterpart.

* * *

Shiny Steel Key: _"A finely polished steel key. Some say it fits the resting place of a cleric who challenged the Sable Church of Londor."_

It opens an underground chamber, where numerous skeletons are sprawled out, dead. They cover the entire floor, all the way up to the body of an elite cleric with tons of arrows stuck in his chest sprawled out on the ground, a circular ring surrounding him, where the skeletons were pushed back. You can immediately pick up a new miracle:

Citadel: _"A tremendous epic from ancient times. Secretly developed by the Way of the White for their battle clerics, few have ever learned this romantic in its entirety._

 _Raise shining pillars of light in the vicinity that banish enemies while rejuvenating allies for a period of time, securing a sanctuary in the middle of the thickest battle._

 _Mankind has often turned to religion as a means of finding peace, order, and unity in the uncertainty of the world, and yet it is the holy cities that raise the highest and thickest walls of all."_

This beast takes 55 Faith and 100 FP, but it's a top tier support spell. You charge up a huge ball of energy, then trigger a flash of light, a large golden glyph appearing on the ground as though great heal was cast, only it stays on the ground, eight pillars of gold light appearing around the rim. Any enemies (invaders or NPCs) that step within the border get burned with magic damage, while you and any allies will gain 20% damage resistance and heal extremely fast.

If you step out of the field, you will keep the 20% resistance for about 5 seconds but not heal, but you can step in and out of the ward at your leisure until it disappears after 90 seconds.

It's got plenty of use in PvE, and can be a downright Troll in PvP, but unless you are playing at a very high level, it is unlikely you will ever see this without your opponent having invested most of their points into Faith.

* * *

Blood-Soaked Iron Key: _"A heavily rusted and decayed key, caked with dried blood. Fits the lock on a tomb abandoned when a mad hollow took up residence within._

 _The Gravewarden's secure hollows in death, ensuring they never again rise up, but they are not invulnerable to death themselves. When a hollow warrior becomes too dangerous to contain, the Gravewarden's merely lock them away, allowing them to turn the dust in their prison."_

That sounds pretty ominous, so I tracked down the proper tomb near the middle of a group of trees. Inside, the ceiling has caved in, allowing pale light to enter, moongrass and a few gnarled trees sitting at the edges.

At the center, nestled in a large pool of blood, is a hollow, seemingly meditating in the ray of light using the "Path of the Dragon" gesture. The moment you get close, or try to hit her, she will stand up and attack immediately.

She has the look and fighting style of a battered kung-fu master, with a rather tattered orange cloak draped over her. The sleeves and front part of the robe around the legs has been ripped off, showing off her thin, emaciated legs and arms, both covered with bloody bandages. Her face is unseen, concealed with an oriental mask resembling the Mask of the Mother, an orange hood drawn up.

Her most noticeable piece of attire is a large, skeletal limb fused to her right arm, the hand and forearm fitting over hers, breaking at the elbow, and continuing with a spiny shoulder blade serving as a makeshift pauldron.

Her fight is… insane. Imagine if the Bone Fist and Beast Claw had a baby, with a few minor tweaks, you would get something like this. Her health drops whenever she attacks, so despite her enormous health pool, she will die pretty quickly if you play carefully, the trick is staying alive long enough, as she is extremely aggressive and one mistake can result in a combo that will likely take away the majority of your health.

She also has several knockback and knockdown attacks, which will disrupt your ability to heal or charge slower attacks. Almost all of her moves can be parried, which will make it much easier. At half health, she will tense up, drawing her arms to her chest and twitching, before unleashing a great, clearly inhuman roar similar to Amygdala.

Afterwards, she will attack significantly faster at the cost of taking significantly more self-damage, and gain a frightfully powerful AoE attack. Luckily, if you are fast enough, she can be knocked out of the animation and not go into her makeshift Phase 2, though she will try to buff again at random intervals.

Overall, her "Glass Cannon" setup made the fight a little easier than it otherwise would have been, but you may die a few times on the first go around.

She drops her weapon for you to pick up:

Parasitic Arm: _"A fractured skeletal arm salvaged from a malformed creature, one of the very rare Bone weapons sometimes found among hand-to-hand combatants in the East. This came from an especially grotesque creature, and tendrils of muscle and sinew remain clinging to the ivory, rising off the bone when human flesh is near, suggesting the desire to satisfy its bloodlust by proxy._

 _When placed on a human limb, it buries needles of bone and strings of tissue hungrily into the flesh, creating a union only the severing of one's whole arm, or death, can break. Those who withstand the agony of such a process are granted the overwhelming strength of beasts, crushing their victims to fleshy pulp with ease._

 _Alas, it channels the strength of beasts, but not the resilience, and those who charge into battle find the tremendous strain too great for their flesh to handle. And yet, this arm has possessed countless owners, for who can resist the ecstasy of blood and bone splintering in the hands?_

 _Weapon Art: Beasthood. Dig deeply into the soul, and draw out a tremendous roar that knocks nearby opponents down, follow with strong attack to unleash a torrential beam of soul power. While beasthood is active, bearers will enjoy an even greater bond with their inner beast, until every bone in their body is broken and every drop of their blood is spilt."_

That's right, Bonefist is back, and it's better than ever. It scales S in Strength, S in Dexterity, and D in Intelligence, though only the Hadoken and Kamehameha scale off of it. At 40 Strength and Dexterity, it has a respectable 350 AR, though it is actually much higher with Beasthood Enabled.

Light attacks drain your health by 1% per strike, which is a bit of a nuisance, but it has an incredibly diverse and effective moveset to make the trade worth it, though heavier attacks have a higher penalty of about 3%.

You see forcewaves and bits of floor kicked up whenever you attack, which just gives you the impression that you're hitting stuff _so hard_ , you're breaking your bones trying to keep up. The trouble is that, like the dragon transformation, once it's on you're stuck with it until you die, just placing it in your hand equips it, meaning you cannot switch to other weapons on your main hand. When you respawn, you will find it automatically disequiped.

The moveset is basically like this: One handed R1 will make you punch, spamming it will make you punch and knee consecutively. R2 causes you to uppercut, charging it will make that uppercut launch people into the air, the folowup R2 is a basic haymaker punch. A running R1 will make you stoop close to the ground, lunging forward at very high speed and knocking anything off their feet with a devastating punch. Running R2 will cause you to leap forward in a frontflip, driving your foot down, which will pancake people hit directly by it.

The Two Handed moveset is similar, but a great deal heavier. Your other arm will raise into a stance, with faint tendrils running down the skin, which will disappear when you go back to one handing (you can change between one and two handed whenever).

Your R1 attack is a set of two punches, followed by two knees and a couple more punches if you spam it, each attack advancing you a little and tracking side to side, like some kind of forced march… only you punch things. R2 is a sweeping counter-clockwise kick, followed by a double punch, a high kick, a set of two high kicks, a kick to the chest, then the kicks looping until you run out of stamina.

Running R1 makes you hunker to the ground, placing your hand to the floor followed by a speedy lunge forward into a clockwise kick that stuns anything caught in the way, which can be immediately followed up by the counterclockwise R2. Running R2 is a jump attack that has you leaping straight up, lingering a second, then diving forward with both feet out (fantastic tracking). A direct hit will inflict heavy damage, slamming people into the ground, your character gracefully backflipping off the pinned opponent.

Pressing L1 will stomp the ground, causing stagger, with an L1 followup giving you the bone fist Hadoken.

L2 is risky to use, but will give you a great deal of power. The roar has a bit of a windup, but will knock anything standing directly by you off their feet, or at the very least cause them to stagger a bit. A followup strong attack will cause both your hands to glow, thrusting forward in a violet Kamehamaha wave.

Your regular attacks are mostly unchanged, aside from being a little faster, but your R2 attacks will be significantly more speedy, as well as attack at FULL CHARGE, even though they are getting thrown out instantly, giving them about _80%_ additional damage, or a base AR of a crippling 630.

Your L1 is greatly changed, you raise your fist high into the air, causing it to glow, and smash the ground, triggering an AoE explosion. Hitting L1 a second time will cause you to slam with your other fist, and using L1 one more time will cause both hands to raise over your head, smashing the ground for an even larger AoE that does a ton of damage… if anything is still standing that close.

Before you get too excited though, every R2 and L1 drains a lot more health than before, a flat 100 points per hit, with 10 HP lost every second. Unless you are running 99 Vitality with every HP boosting Ring, you will die extremely fast, as you don't have to hit someone to lose health, just attacking will remove a chunk. This should only be used sparingly, setting up attacks with R1, then hitting those super-fast kicks to lay people out before the health drain becomes too much of a problem.

Upon going back to the Shrine Handmaid, I found a new armor set available:

Sohei Hooded Mask: _"A beautiful porcelain mask depicting a fine maiden, with a monk's hood drawn overhead. The mask is cracking, and the embroidered selvedge of the hood has already been shredded._

 _Masks like these belong to elite Eastern warriors, and while not as sturdy as metal, the ceramic is very durable and protects the face from all manner of thing._

 _To allow the mask to fall into such disrepair suggests a loss of the traditional standards of beauty and grace."_

Bloodied Sohei Bandages: _"Long spools of cloth bandages worn over the arms. They are drenched with blood and several chips of bone are embedded within. No self-respecting warrior would wear these._

 _These bandages soaked with herbal salve are a grim symbol of those who have taken the Path of the Beast, dooming themselves to self-annihilation, their once lithe, strong arms slowly fracturing."_

Bloodied Sohei Sandals: _"Comfortable, open sandals that allow the foot to breathe, though seldom worn in combat. They are accompanied by long, bloodied bandages from ankle to crotch, and the wood is starting to rot._

 _These bandages soaked with herbal salve are a grim symbol of those who have taken the Path of the Beast, dooming themselves to self-annihilation, their once lithe, strong legs slowly fracturing."_

Tattered Sohei Robe: _"The deep, reddish robes of an eastern warrior monk, lovely embroidery setting it apart as the robe of a highly esteemed and skilled member of their monastery. The fabric has blackened with layers of sweat and grime, and the wearer has ripped the sleeves and entire front half of the skirt away, the frayed coattails dragging behind to allow greater movement of the legs._

 _Such an indecent garb could only be worn by a hollowed, once proud warrior who has forsworn all modesty and discipline, turning savage and depraved._

 _The curse of hollowing erodes men, civilizations, and cultures with equal rancor, such that even the most noble of souls can turn to nihilism, discarding all hopes of the future."_

Interestingly, after you kill the monk, Ednatiel will gaze at where she died for a minute, before saying: "Poor girl. I wonder if she even had any idea what was happening, or… never mind, let's just go. This place reeks of blood…"

* * *

Ring of Antiquated Keys: _"A set of three aging steel keys. They are particularly large and ornate, and very heavy. Based on the sloppiness of the improvised loop of metal, these keys were separated, and united again by a Graverobber. The allure of what could lie behind a door with three locks is tantalizing, but the growls of inhuman beasts cause robbers to shy away."_

This unlocks a large stone building a ways to the side, nestled against the mountain. It is very hard to find, as you have to find a set of stone ruins behind several Gravewardens, break an illusory wall into a smaller cluster of graves before the tomb, then finally approach the door. Opening it, you can hear deep, agitated panting. The interior is black, but you can hear the noises. I went in with a torch and, lo and behold, I was met with four skeleton beasts from Tomb of the Giants, aged and decayed, but just as deadly as I remember them as I frantically dodged between their one-hit-kill charge attacks and claws.

After handling them, I found a brazier in the middle to light, which causes large torches atop a set of pillars to ignite, illuminating the chamber. As they ignited in sequence, the last pair at the back of the room lit up an alter of some kind, and when I went in to get a closer look, I was in for quite a shock.

It was a stone coffin with the lid broken off of it, shattered pieces littering the floor alongside broken chains, with several scared, crushed skeleton beasts against the wall. It looks like whatever was in the coffin had escaped, though they tried their hardest to keep it in. Just behind the coffin was a faded mural covered with unreadable text, a Zweihander, rusted and decayed with noticeable burns along the metal, and an item on a pedestal:

Mask of the Father: _"Mask of an ancient necromancer, lost to time. Its eyes stare unblinkingly, its mouth open in a silent scream beneath the curls of golden hair. It was said he bore the weight of his family on his back after a terrible affront to Death was committed, but his tragedy is hardly remembered today._

 _Synonymous with a cult of warriors who sought its power to raise item burden to shoulder massive armaments, traversing the battlefield with speed and grace, while shrugging off unbelievable damage. These infamous Darkwriaths are long since extinct, but on the interior of the forehead is inscribed a single line:_

' _Legends never die' "_

You take the mask, and start for the exit, but without warning, a Red Phantom rises from the ground ahead of you, his massive bulk pretty imposing as he stands about a foot taller than the player, and wears incredibly heavy golden armor, his shouldered Zweihander already out to his side. The invader has no name, and greets you with perhaps the most famous gesture in all of Dark Souls, which unlocks for you on seeing it the first time:

 **Well, what is it!** He immediately charges into battle. I'll be honest, I died multiple times trying to defeat him. He is able to Ninja Flip through most projectiles and slower attacks, and his damage resistance is absolutely unbelievable, while his Chaos Zweihander has a good chance of killing you in two strikes. He will also, at random, pull out a pyro flame and fire Black Flame, which is practically an instakill attack.

He doesn't use weapon arts or heavier moves very often, and usually just goes for the light 2h R1s, but it's hard to trade hits with him since he doesn't stagger… like at all, which is especially a pain since he chugs Estus, using four heals five times, even though the first heal restores all his health.

I won't lie though, watching him spam "Well, What is it!" after each death did bring back memories.

With a considerable amount of patience, and parries, I managed to finally down him. At the Shrine Handmaid, a new set was waiting for me:

Royal Sentinel Set: _"Armor/Leggings/Gauntlets/Helm of the towering sentinels that once guarded the city of Anor Londo._

 _Once upon a time, the Giant Blacksmith forged numerous sets of this armor for his kin, until they left alongside the numerous gods fleeing the fading First Flame, the discarded armor left to gather dust._

 _The White Iron and Brass is unbelievably sturdy, nigh impenetrable to the likes of common arms, but very few can hold up under the crushing weight, as it was never intended for human use."_

* * *

Now that we have everything we need to basically beat the entire game, it's time to finally confront the boss:

Grim music begins before you see the boss, walking down a narrow path with no visibility on what's at the end. Sounds of screeching metal, a massive sword slamming the ground, and the dying sounds of hollows starts to get louder and louder as you walk. If Edna is present, she will visibly shiver:

"I don't like this… and I don't scare easy."

When you step into the open, you are met with an open grove, damage numbers appearing as a massive knight slaughters several hollows, collapsing to the ground. He uses a Greatsword to support himself, with an equally massive greatshield at his side.

You can still flee, but if you take another few steps forward, the fog will appear and the Knight will push himself upright, staggering at first, then sprinting.

 _Enslaved Knights_ will make you panic for a second, until you realize that the boss is seemingly alone, despite being referred to plural. The Graverobber was correct, he is indeed a giant, about twelve feet tall, towering over you, but his build is very thin and lanky. His armor is shining silver, with pauldrons modeled on wolves heads, crescent kneepads, sloped elbow guards, and scale mail over all of his extremities. His Helm resembles a wolf, pointed, angular, and predatory, with a set of two slits on the visor. A great blue cape flairs behind him, blowing with his wild movements.

With his massive kite shield in his right hand and completely black sword in the left, he is extremely striking, both visually and in how deadly he is.

His theme, as you dodge frantically over the bodies of the dead, the light filtering through the cavern ceiling, trees, and graves, is ominous, graceful, and threatening (/watch?v=Zh83dhvuZkE).

Aside from brief pauses to growl and line up on you, there is very little downtime in his attacks. He does a charging thrust, gliding over the ground, executes frontflips that slam down on your head, a spin to win, a slash into a backflip, plunge attacks.

You name it, and chances are he can execute it with his sword. He also factors his shield into his strategy, bashing you off your feet to get slashed in two, blocking every chance he has to no-sell ranged attacks and stronger attacks, and generally making the fight extremely hard due to the highly limited amount of time I had to hit back.

Aside from the extremely good balance of offense and defense, his combos come at you as fast as you can dodge them, I constantly was taken by surprise as he chained different moves together while I was distracted with getting around that damn shield.

Also, there was something incredibly uncanny about him, while I knew this was the first time seeing him, something in his fighting style made me feel like I'd fought him a thousand times before…

Ednatiel helped a lot in distracting him, but even solo, there are gaps that can be exploited. He has a pretty long recovery on the plunge attack and some of his heavier moves, the key is not to get too careless and try not to run too far from the boss, lest you miss an opening.

After several tries, we got him down to half health, where he collapsed to the ground let up a very familiar scream, going limp. It all came flooding back: why his attacks, weapon, and shield were so familiar, why he seemed so new yet so old at the same time…

The greatshield cracks, shattering to pieces and covering the boss in a healing light that causes his body to gain a bright blue halo, his theme becoming tragic, with a holy ring to it, as he was a great, holy warrior that fell to the dark all that time ago, and still suffers for it (/watch?v=UemPu_vgO00). He stands back up, the halo condensing into a shade, a black impression set over the boss. His shadow resembles a noble samurai, a feather trailing behind his head, with his sword in a low stance. He holds his sword down low and to the side, hesitating a moment, before lunging forward blindingly fast, uppercuting me into the air and backflipping.

As I stood up, the boss screamed, his voice becoming a low growl, this time his shadow becoming a towering suit of jagged iron. He raised his sword up high, focusing blue flames into the base, the _Bweeeeeeeeem_ engraved into my head after countless fights as I instinctively dodged through the column of sweeping flames, the sword remaining on fire as he lunged forward with a thrust from his greatsword. As i dodged, he reached to his side and drew a smaller blade with his free hand, throwing out a set of light slashes and following with sweep from his sword.

Another shriek, this time that of a woman, and suddenly he had the vestige of a monk-like warrior, his sword on his back with a second small blade drawn in his other hand. He attacked with a series of lightning fast slashes from one blade, leaving trails of blinding fire, followed by thrusts from the other sword.

I gained an appreciation for his and her name, Enslaved Knights, for he had a piece of every great knight stuck inside, constantly changing his strategies as he alternated between Artorias in his prime, to Velstadt, Raime, Alonne, Ciaren, Gough, and Pursuer, emulating their moves with the Greatbow and Greatsword on his back, duel blades on his hips, and even his bare hands.

Stage 3 comes when he is down to about 20% of his health, which is good considering he becomes absolutely hellish in his final breath. They grasp their head, shrieking as the shade retreats away, the silver starting to smolder. They scream collectively, bringing the greatsword up in both hands, grasping the hilt in a deathgrip as it cracks, erupting into blue soul light whole their visor turns into two slits of fiery red. The theme becomes one of panic as he flies, and I do mean, _flies_ at you, the attacks becoming sloppy and erratic as the noble knights finally crack (/watch?v=CXBK-vTr0WI).

His two handed moveset shares vague similarities with several other bosses, but is more or less unique. Each blow is accompanied by blue flames flying around, the ground erupting in a fissure of energy a moment after getting struck, the boss unleashing beams along the ground as he unrelentingly charges forward, leaping and flipping across the whole area to keep attacking.

Thankfully, rolling through his attacks at the right time will cause his combos to miss 9/10, since he is no longer able to track your movements very well, but it's a nailbiting battle since one wrong move is death and the extended hitboxes from the flames and bursts could stun you at a very bad time, and the boss fucking screams his and her lungs out through the whole thing.

After an extremely tense battle, he was finally brought down, Ednatiel cosplaying me as she dropped off her feet, panting for breath and fading to her own world.

Wasting no time, I checked out the soul and all the boss items:

" _Soul of the Enslaved Knights, servants of the Lord of Londor. The Abyss draws countless souls from across the unraveled timelines, some of which find their way into new forms across the cycles, a fact the grim lord of the Sable Church uses to capture ancient knowledge and power._

 _The Soul of the Wolf Knight, lost in the darkness and unable to find rest, was placed into a suit of enchanted armor, other great souls joining him as time passed. But, their wills were too strong to break, and when they looked down on themselves they were stricken with grief and horror, and gradually went thoroughly mad._

 _The Lord of Londor, with a heavy heart, banished the bewitched armor to the graves, to ward intruders from his castle, knowing that one day an undead may come to challenge his rule."_

Enslaved Knight Set: _"Bewitched armor crafted of the finest silver, serving as a vessel for great souls. Wearing this steals the heat from the body, and fills the soul with icy cold._

 _The workmanship, born of the vast talents and intellect of Londor's highest echelon, would strike envy into proudest knights, but betrays the torment and sorrow of the souls that dwelled within."_

Darkslayer: _"Featureless greatsword of dense black metal, modeled on a cursed blade that slew numerous Darkwraiths in the battle of New Londo. The blade is overflowing with soul power, several luminescent fractures covering the edges. Channeling the fighting spirits of old unleashes arcane fire that embodies the blessing that was stripped from the original blade long ago._

 _Weapon Art: Burning Warcry. Unleash a spirited battlecry that boosts damage a short time and ignites the blade with arcane fire. Follow with strong attack to unleash multiple strong attacks in rapid succession."_

It has a moderate level of physical and a mild amount of Dark damage. It scales D/D in Strength and Dex, but A/A in Faith and Intelligence, which scales both the Dark damage and the flame buff. The follow-up R2 on the weapon buff resembles that of the greatclub, where you go ape and smash the blade all over the place, and it can be followed up a second time to add a couple more slashes.

It has a pretty standard greatsword moveset otherwise, aside from the fact a lot of the attacks make you run and jump forward a bit, giving it a longer reach than what it may appear at first.

Interestingly, the blade is Cursed, which means it can damage ghosts and a good portion of its damage will pass through shields, especially with the buff active, which actually makes a blade a pure elemental weapon as the physical damage turns into Dark damage and the blue flame buff adds Magic damage.

Numbness (Dark Miracle): _"Cast darkness over oneself to obscure pain and trauma, but greatly compromise vision._

 _In a deathless world, where suffering runs in eternal cycles, the Dark promises restful, waking sleep, for if trauma cannot be perceived, and one is incapable of feeling, no pain can be experienced._

 _At least, that is what the desperate believe."_

Works much like it did in Dark Souls 2, boosting your defenses by an entire 40% with nearly unlimited poise for about 30 seconds, however, the drawback is far more severe. Your entire screen goes almost completely black, with only the really bright hues visible.

When something sprints or swings a weapon towards you, it will light up with a set of white ripples, mimicking sound, which allows you to find the general direction of your target, but enemies holding still, not sprinting, or inanimate objects will be almost completely invisible.

You are just as likely to walk off a cliff or stumble in circles while your opponent laughs their asses off as actually hit anything, but if you do get into a brawl, you will be able to move at full speed and walk right through hits without a care, it's up to you to get creative with it.

Heading back to the Groggy Crag to find Ednatiel, I discovered she was not present, completely missing. But, there were signs of a struggle: chairs and tables were flipped, several lights were burned out, blood was all over the place, and the Kitchen Knife could be picked up off the floor.

Something had happened while I was gone, but there was only one way forward. Past the Enslaved Knights was a path to a gorge with a sewer opening. I lept in and waded through the water, eventually finding a ladder and climbing to the surface, the area tag appearing as I scaled out of a hatch in the ground:

 **Sable Church**


	6. Sable Church Underbelly

Dear readers: You people are fucking awesome. It is this positive reception that makes breaking my ass marathoning crazy ideas like this worth it. I have school stuff and I'm getting really burned out, so next chapter will be a little while.

This and next chapter were going to be one block, but it went on for way longer than I thought, so I'm splitting it up. Don't you worry though, there is still plenty of content. I believe two more chapters after this will do it.

* * *

Emerging from a sewer port on the ground, you enter a garden somewhere at the mid of the cathedral, occupying a courtyard nestled inside three walls, with a balcony overlooking Londor behind. Unlike below, the plants here are lush and alive, with great cherry trees in full bloom, flower pedals rustling faintly with hedgerows of flowers, though it has some resemblance to a Japanese rock garden, with pale sand and pebbles raked around the area. The singing you hear all throughout Londor is much louder and more distinct up here. At the far end, there is a set of two stairs leading to a door, with a bonfire at the base, situated on a plot of stones. There are also a few shiny items nearby.

I decided to go for the shiny items first, sitting against a tree. As I went into the familiar "reach down" animation, the shining aura dispersed, revealing it was a set of luminescent moths. The tree split open before I could even exit the animation, a rope-like tongue lashing out-

 **It's a Trap!**

My character was grasped by the tongue and jerked right off his feet into the giant, slit mouth, the tree closing around him, making several crunching and cracking sounds as it chewed, which suffice to say was an instant kill.

Next playthrough, I skipped the shiny and went to the bonfire to save my progress. Item mimics are a thing now I guess, your character reaching out to light it, the flame sparking… then unleashing a massive burst of Dark-

 **It's a Trap!**

Your character staggers back, smoldering from the force of the explosion, your entire HP bar already empty, before you fall on your back, "You Died" greeting you again.

On yet another playthrough, I skipped the mimic tree, and the cursed bonfire, and went to the door. Afterall, there is no way the door could in any way hurt you… right?

Yes, yes it can. You push the door until you hear the "click", of it unlocking, before the floor drops out and you fall to your death.

So, no matter what avenue you choose, you will die in this first area. I would soon realize why…

* * *

You awaken in the middle of a cutscene, in first person view, face down on the floor, your vision still blurry, but your hearing alright as you look through the bars of a prison cell. There's a figure in black to one side, and a second in the background, blindingly white and impossible to make out as your vision flickers, the figure in the back getting closer with each blink, until all you can see are his feet and legs.

He has closed leather sandals and mostly bare legs, with several jeweled anklets hanging down. The skin is black, with blue fur of varying thickness creeping up the ankles and top of the foot, small black claws at the end of his toes. You can see a blurry, indistinct white dress that comes down to midway above the ankle.

For the first time, you him speak, in an androgynous, deep voice, which sounds like a few different voices speaking at the same time, like Aldia, only instead of sounding desperate and yearning, he is icy cold and calm:

" _So, this is the transgressor? Still so young, but I can feel the blood of the Lords of Cinder on his hands already. A true Undead warrior. Hmm…_ "

The second one on the scene, clearly a woman, responds:

"What is it, my Lord?"

"… _Nothing, this situation is simply making me nostalgic. I fell into a snare much like this one, a very long time ago. That is why I gave you those instructions."_

"I don't know why you went through the trouble. He's just a simple Hollow."

"Yes… a simple hollow… Tell me something…"

"…Yes?"

" _This small, simple hollow… do you believe he's any match for I?"_

"Nonsense, you are a true Lord, and a most gracious King!" She responds, "A mere undead could never topple a Lord such as-"

" _That is what Gwyn said. I killed him. Manus, the first of the Dark Lords, destroyed Oolacile in a rage, and used the princess to breed his daughters. The Old Fool was terrified of him, and had but one knight that could challenge the Dark on equal terms, his greatest warrior. I killed them both. Every Lord. Every beast and demon in this sad parody of existence, was slain with these two hands, long before I became a lord myself._

 _I know, more than anyone else in this world, what a Hollow is capable of. If allowed to roam free, he will not stop, ever, even after countless deaths, until he claims every last soul. Not for good or evil, not because he wants to or needs to, but because he doesn't know how to do anything else."_

"I… I'm sorry."

The Lord of Londor turns his back to you, starting to walk away. _"Watch this gate. I am sending a few smiths to weld it shut as soon as they can gather the material to do so. If anyone, and I do mean, anyone, approaches this gate other than them, kill them. And do it with extreme… vigor."_

"Yes, your Majesty."

You black out, ending the cutscene.

Suddenly, it all made sense in how the traps were set up. This is something unlike anything you have faced before. You are facing the Chosen Undead, he _knows_ what you're going to do, because he did it himself.

He knows that you will just keep trying until you eventually succeed, so he _prepared_ for this meeting, using the same trick as Seathe the Scaleless. Artorias was a test to see if you could break your way into the castle, and once you did, he wastes no time in turning your instincts as a Souls player against you, in order to trap you at a bonfire you can't escape from, just like Seathe. He has the benefit of prior experience, something no other boss has.

* * *

You wake up a second time, slowly getting up off the floor, rubbing your head and shaking off the fatigue, still a little delirious. You will find all your equipment disequipped, and when you go into your menu, you will find it is not there. In fact, everything, your rings, armor, and weapons are all missing, your inventory completely empty, down to the last throwing knife. Even your Estus Flask is now gone.

You are well and truly helpless. It is very dark, with only the light of the bonfire in your small, cramped cell to comfort you. You are helpless to do anything but rest.

Outside, you can see a great chasm with a rickety railing to the left, the rest of the chamber resembling a massive prison tower, cells along the catwalks and walls curving overhead. You cannot see very much of it, since there are only small, faint candles to light the room spaced a fair distance from eachother.

The guard is leaning back against the door, so I did what any souls player would do, and crept up behind her, jabbing her through the gate. It did about 10 damage, the Guard wincing and casually walking away from the door, turning to face you.

"What? Did you expect me to keel over from just that? How are you even conscious, you should be dead for a lot longer than that. You really are resilient."

It's more than a little alarming. Dark everywhere. No weapons, Estus, Armor, or Items. A locked door with no key, and a guard to make sure no-one can rescue you before the door is sealed permanently. The screams of the damned and tortured, hollows trapped in hanging cages rattling the bars, plus other, more disturbing noises, make you terrified to even leave your cell if you could.

It's the most helpless you will ever be in a Souls game. But, hope is not completely lost. After just staring at the guard a moment, wondering what to do, she asked:

"What are you looking at?" Turning around. I saw something shift in the shadows, right by the railing by the gorge, hiding from the guard's sight. When she turned back around, I could clearly see a figure crawling up the railing, perched on it, waiting.

After a second, the guard asked again, turning around, the hollow dropping back down out of sight. So, I just started punching the bars, the guard turning back and looking at me.

"What are you doing?", "Causing a racket will do you no good.", "You really are persistent." As she commented, the hollow slowly got down off the railing, creeping up behind her.

"For the Lord's sake… what are you staring at now?" The hollow stabs her in the leg, the guard falling onto the railing, the Hollow grabbing her by the legs.

"Me, you wretched harpy!" He snaps, before vaulting her over the ledge, the guard's screams fading as she falls down the chasm, the hollow laughing all the way. When she disappears, the hollow hobbles up to your cell, leaning in.

He is wearing only basic rags, his body thin and emaciated, and he speaks in a low, hushed tone, with no small note of insanity:

"So, you're the trouble maker. Ohh, the Lord of Londor had fun with you. Everything down to the nickers hehehe."

"I saw him talking to you, that self-proclaimed god from the pit. Now, that's interesting. He never comes up, too busy meditating, or somthin'."

"Me? I'm nobody. Just a humble locksmith. Hehehe, it's funny. One minute, yer' fighting off a bunch of thugs looking for your Humanity, the next, a few of those preachers gets tangled up in it… then **Boom! Click! Snap! P-pop!** you're in here. The lockmaker, behind a big old lock. But, I got out…"

"Took a few days… weeks… months… I don't know. Time! Time is all you have an abundance of around here. Time to scrape the metal off the bars, pull up a few bolts, little by little, scrap by scrap. The bonfire was my forge, a piece of old cement… my hammer!"

"I made a pick. Just a little, slim little hunk of metal. The right shape, the right… constitution… and I tell you, push a few pins here and there, and the door came right open, like a pair of red-lit legs ***creepy laugh*** "

"But… it takes more than getting out of your cell to escape here. Oh… yes it does. Even if you get out, you have hulking knights everywhere you go, torturers, devils… its dark down here, dark as dark gets. I could get someplace with a knife or two... but… let's face it, I'm not the fighting kind. Hopeless… hopeless!"

"The Lord of Londor… he's scared of something. They looked for weeks, I guess until they got tired and decided I wasn't worth the search. But… not scared enough to come up here. You… its personnel with you, has it in…"

"I have a proposition. The way I see… you have something the church really wants to put down. You frighten them, but alas, you're in there. And you will stay in there, till you turn to a pile of old bones. But me? Me, I'm out here. I own this Jail, I can go everywhere I want, but out. Too much for out. I know where they're keeping all of your big, scary blades, and I know how to get there, too."

"So, here's what I propose. I use this pick to get you out of that cell, and I take you to all yer' belongings. You do… whatever it is you do, to take those daughters and their dregs and gut them like bloated, festering fishes. So I can run along home to Londor. Huh? A good bargain, yes?"

 **No** : "I can wait. As long as it takes. You're not going anywhere."

 **Yes** : "Ah, a wise investment! Very wise. Now, I am going to take this pick, and open the door. But you have to follow my rules. You do what I do, you go where I go. You don't touch anything, don't say anything. Be my shadow. I don't know if I can get you out of that cell a second time."

"Aww, you don't trust me? I may be small and frail, but I had a strong arm, then, and I'm not that far gone yet. I've been here a long time. I could walk the path with my eyes closed, crawling on my belly, and raise nary a single peep from the jailers. Trust me, your hide is in safe hands ***creepy, completely not trustworthy laugh*** "

He opens the door, leading you around. This is one of the scariest experiences I have ever had in a Souls game. Aside from the creepy torturers, who are actually slaying hallows with various tools and death traps as we go along, there are these _huge_ knights wandering the halls with massive armaments that would be intimidating if I wasn't completely naked with no healing or weapons. They have dark armor, which in the already black environment means you only see their silhouette most of the time. Long before you see them, you usually hear their footsteps pounding the ground as they get closer.

This extreme helplessness was made a lot better though by our friend, Locksmith Jonathan, who true to his word will walk you past every enemy in the level without aggravating them, but only if you walk very slowly and stick to his side like your life depends on it, which it does since you have absolutely no chance if anything is drawn towards you, as they are very high level enemies.

Aside from pausing and starting when it's safe to skirt around the patrolling enemies, he can slip into tight cracks and spaces to open shortcuts and doors. It was very strange playing Dark Souls as a stealth game, but it was thrilling and made it all the more satisfying to get my things back. You are lead to a room with a knight staring unblinkingly at a chest, which has all your things.

Now, rewinding a little bit, if you are morbidly curious, or absolutely suicidal, you can choose to attack Jonathan the moment you get out of your cell with your fists:

"Eh?", "What are you doing!", rather than fight, he will run away, shouting over his shoulder, "You're no different than him, no different!"

He will not escort you through the level, and will actively draw enemies towards you using his various shortcuts and the inaccessible spots he can crawl into to stay out of your reach.

It is possible to clear the level without Jonathon's assistance, but that option is only for the most pain-hungry masochist among you, because between the extremely powerful enemies hunting you down, constantly alerted to your presence, the dark corridors, and the complexity of the level, you will die a _lot_ unless you have extremely keen environmental awareness.

If you get spotted by an enemy on the way, and Jonathon is with you, he will exclaim: "Now look what you did! Run!"

If you use "Call Over", you will immediately draw every enemy to you, Jonathon exclaiming: "W-what!? Have you no senses you blithering fool. Run!"

If you lose your pursuer, you can join back up with him, if you die, you respawn at the cell.

Each time you die, you will always return, albeit a little anticlimactically, to your cell with the door open and the guard dead. Jonathon will or will not be there waiting depending on if you attacked him or not.

Now, back to your things. Jonathon will lean in close, whisper "In and out." And go to one side. You can hear him pounding on the bars and howling down the hall, which will draw the knight over to him, away from the chest. You have just enough time to go over to the chest, open it, and grab "(Character Name's) Cache" and get out before the knight walks back.

Jonathon beckons you, and you run down the hall to where he is, setting off again. He takes you down a ways, stopping by a decayed wall. He leans down, feels it a bit, then pounds his fist while listening, finally pressing with his shoulder with a grunt, breaking away the loose stone and sending it tumbling into the dark.

"Old cells, another level down. Crawl down there and you can get decent in peace… unless you prefer fighting the way you are ***Laugh*** , still, you could consider a sword? Bow? Staff?" If you talk to him before going in:

"Don't worry. I'll pull you back out, trust me. It's not safe up here, you go on in."

You can stand by the gap in the wall, and have the option to drop through, getting on the ground and going through the hole legs first. Inside is a dark, desolate cell, the bonfire extinguished and not a soul in sight on the balcony past the closed door.

You can go to your inventory, use the cache, and your inventory will be completely restocked with everything you had before. You are given unlimited time to dress and get your equipment. When you are ready, you can hit X at the prompt to reach your hands up to the hole, Jonathon leaning in, grabbing your arms, and helping to hoist you up through the gap near the ceiling.

"That's more like it." He says, a siren starting to echo through the halls. "They know you're out. I had to push myself into a water cistern to get away, when I broke out, but you… slice them to pieces. Kill…" He chuckles, panting for breath after a moment. "I'll be alright. I'll stay out of your way, just make sure not to croak, you made it this far."

Now, you can get some payback and go in guns blazing, if you choose. The enemies are still quite strong, but now you have your full arsenal to fight back with.

You hack your way to an elevator, Jonathon running in behind you, the elevator heading to the surface. He pants a little, wiping his forehead.

"Ah, you have my thanks. I don't think I'll be going home, but don't you worry. I'll find a place to slither on into. Hehehehe."

On getting to the top, he will step out with you, before vanishing in a puff of smoke. However, if you progressed Ednatiel's Questline this far, he will offer another line of dialogue before leaving:

"Oh, one more thing, before I drift off. Did you happen to have a lady friend?"

 **No** : "Oh, must have been my imagination then."

 **Yes** : "Heheheh, I knew it. Quite a darling bird. Wretchedly hollow, but she had such a sweet voice when they were plucking at her wings. She's still alive. I don't know where, I was- uh- distracted away by the Lord of Londor when he passed. When he left you at your cell, I went over to take a quick peak. Alas, she's gone, dragged off, hapless and naked as a newborn babe to rot somewhere."

"Go back in there? No, thank you. The only flesh I'm worried about is mine. Besides, smell that? Those swirling little ashes? There's a bonfire close by, just rest there a little bit, and go back down yourself, if you're so inclined. But, be warned. The jail down there is filled with terrors. You saw yourself. Why not stay up here. There are plenty more girls outside."

Nearby is a bonfire, true to Jonathon's words. Taking a detour to Firelink, I found Jonathon huddled up in one of the corners of the shrine.

"Ah, hello, darling friend! Nice place you have here. Humph, don't give me that look! I'm just a humble merchant. I picked up a lot of things, roving the corridors in the dark. I'll trade for souls, and for you, a big discount, yes?"

He sells the full set of those dark knights you fought in the dungeons, plus their weapons:

Enchanted Knight Set: _"Hollow armor/gauntlets/leggings/helm of the vanguard of the Sable Church. The hulking knights are merely souls bound to armor, with not even a whisper of their past selves within._

 _They know no sleep, hunger, thirst, or yearning, and can stand at a single post for years if their grim Lord deems it necessary."_

Their weapons all share a few elements in common: They are very heavy with a hefty strength requirement, dole out HUGE damage, but do not scale with any skills (can be infused, Raw will likely be the obvious choice), and have a "carved" appearance, like cast iron with engraved marks across them.

Enchanted Knight Greataxe: _"Executioner's Guillotine made to slice fleeing prisoners and intruders in two with a single great swing. It's abnormally short haft places the momentum close to the user, allowing for deadly horizontal sweeps paired with crushing downward attacks._

 _A deadly close-quarters weapon, but cripplingly heavy to a normal human._

 _Weapon art: Ironclad. Channel the inhuman focus of the Enchanted Armor to disregard pain and trauma, greatly reducing incoming damage and stagger, but reduce speed."_

As the description says, its light R1s are horizontal right-left sweeps ala Black Knight Greataxe, albeit with a much shorter range, making it resemble more of a greatsword. Its One Handed R2 is a vertical chop, but if you charge it all the way, you'll hold it behind your shoulder and throw out a diagonal sweep, followed up by a slam to the ground. A second charged r2 will be a second slam.

Two handed still has horizontal R1s, but the R2s are all downward sloping slams. Using the Iron Flesh L2 is where it became strong, since it doesn't resist as much damage, and doesn't give you as much poise, but it allows you to move a lot more freely.

Enchanted Knight Shield: _"Scaled metal shield that boasts exceptional stability and resistance to physical damage._

 _The Enchanted Knights protect the nobility of Londor, standing motionless with these shields before them for years at a time._

 _Weapon Art: Shield Bash."_

Enchanted Knight Twinblade: _"A two-headed sword made to overwhelm opponents by continuously spinning the weapon in sweeping motions._

 _A popular weapon among the warriors of Drang, before the betrayal of their monarch condemned them to scatter to the winds._

 _Nearly impossible to wield properly due to the abundance of strength and dexterity necessary to control it, but a few good spins is all it takes to assure victory._

 _Weapon Art: Whirlwind. Fully draw weight back, and throw yourself into a set of crippling spins. Follow with strong attack for consecutive oscillating attacks."_

Spin2winboyz. For the cost of 30 Dexterity and 40 Strength, it has a moveset half between good old Santier's and Red Iron Winblade. It's very sluggish for a Twinblade, since the thing is the size of a damned Lance, but as you attack, it gets faster, picking up momentum. It's one handed R1's are spearlike pokes, with a running and rolling horizontal sweep. The R2s are horizontal sweeps with the blade on the top.

Naturally, the two handed moveset is what you are going to be spamming a lot. The 2h R1 is the regular spin with a small windup, but once you keep spamming R1 it starts hauling it. It has a fair amount of hyperarmor and excellent side to side tracking since its hitbox can be classified as fucking Jovian planet, but you'll be recovering from a full volley of R1s for about a century, so anyone who rolls backwards will be able to run in and punish if you aren't cautious.

R2 is an overhead spin into a spin2win, just like Santier's, but it has a unique L1: a two handed heavy sweep one side to the other, which isn't very damaging but pretty speedy with very low recovery, so mostly just a setup to other attacks since it has much higher range than what it may appear.

L2 is when it just gets retarded, imagine if you had that super high speed spin attack from Warden Twinblades or Sellsword Twinblades on a weapon the size of a lance, and using heavy attack did a few of those in a row.

Yeah…

Enchanted Knight Morning Star: _"Great iron flail of the Enchanted Knights of Londor. The great head of a mace suspended by an iron chain attacks by swinging full circle around the body, or crashing down upon the heads of enemies._

 _A rare weapon, due to the danger it poses to the wielder. Many have died in training, but to the hollow Vanguard, the danger matters none._

 _Weapon Art: Full Circle. Spin the head of the mace at full speed, continuing until the user runs out of stamina."_

New weapon hype. It has a pretty basic moveset, since all it really does is hold the haft over your head and swing it all around you, with the R2 attacking downwards, crushing anything hit by it. It has a pretty sizable reach, but a long recovery, since at the end of attacks, you yank the mace head back into your hand and leave the chain folded next to you.

The L2 spin 2 win increases the range and speed pretty substantially, as well as granting basically unlimited poise, but it will drain your stamina pretty much immediately.

Jonathon also sells some Humanity in a limited quantity:

" _Tiny black sprite resembling a dark, dead ember. Its small eyes seem to follow you, and it dances in random patterns in the open air, suggesting a semblance of sentience._

 _Crush to greatly restore health, imbuing Hollow flesh with new strength, but raise Hollowing._

 _The Abyss yawns open, devouring light and sensation, reflecting the blackness of humanity. In ancient, nearly forgotten tales, the Abyss was created by Primeval Man to warp and twist his avaricious children into a form more befitting their vile nature, and spawn bane to the Lords of Cinder._

 _The Darkwraiths covet these slivers of blackness, born of the original Dark Soul, so that true Dark may be cast on the world and the Age of Man will dawn at long last."_

After checking on his inventory, we head back into the Underbelly of Londor to find Ednatiel. Once I got back in, I was happy to find an area to the side I was in too much a hurry to see before. Inside, there is a chain hanging from the ceiling. Pulling it causes the room to shake, before numerous hanging lanterns ignite throughout the prison. This makes your visit much less frightening, as you can clearly find your way around now.

Having all of my equipment was also a plus, but just having a little light made it more forgiving.

The place is otherwise unchanged, with enchanted knights and torturers lurking about, undead screaming in pain and disturbing noises echoing around the halls. There was one interesting encounter:

You find keys to different areas, one of them opened a room with a few dead bodies wearing the hollow hunter set and a Humanity. After taking the Humanity, going down the hall, and stopping to pick up another item, I was instakilled by a backstab, and swiveling my camera around, found one of the dead bodies was not quite dead, walking away.

Coming back and attacking the dead body, she rolled to the side and hopped out of reach, running away.

Her name is Irene the Shade, a hollowed hunter using the Obscuring ring to remain invisible at a range while taking shots at you with her crossbow, which does a sizable amount of damage and has a good chance of killing you in one hit if you are not in cinder form and hold still long enough.

She can fight with a dagger, but will simply run away to fight at a range nearly every time. She has these smoke pellets, which completely blind you for a short period of time if you aren't careful, which she uses to escape to a safe range. At 1/4 of her health, and after her Estus is gone, she will flee the area entirely, and attack you on and off and various ambush points.

If you kill her, she drops Irene's ashes, a ring, and a weapon: _"The Ashes of Irene, a hunter of hollows that went mad within the underbelly of Londor._

 _A brilliant sniper, but quite cowardly, she used all manner of underhanded trick to cleanly dispose of her targets via stealth. Alas, her tactics failed her a single time, and she was tortured to the point of breaking before getting locked away, that she would never harm the Hollows the Londor again."_

Ring of the Dead: _"Illusory ring worn by Irene the Shade in conjunction with a ring of invisibility pillaged from an infamous invader._

 _Grants the illusion of death and hollowing, allowing the wearer to mingle into mobs of enemies, though it only fools those who still trust their eyes. Also boasts an enchantment that allows one to see unseen enemies._

 _It was tools like this that allowed Irene to cripple her adversaries from the shadows, many never seeing their death coming. Her companions often scoffed at her elaborate acting and stealth skills, saying if she payed half as much mind to dueling as fleeing, she would be a genuine terror."_

Like the Ring of the Living, it removes phantom hues, but instead of making you look human, it will make you look like a corpse. If you are standing relatively close to hollows, it will actually cause your appearance to change to that of a regular enemy, though the illusion will break if you take damage or start attacking.

As it says, enemies will still attack you as normal, but if you are close enough to them to stay outside agro range but proc the effect, you will look like a regular enemy. This also works for non-hostile enemies, like the praying hollows in Lothric.

It also lets you see ALL enemies, which will be marked with a red flair through walls and the environment. It can be fooled by Chameleon, the Obscuring Ring, and a second Ring of the Dead.

Irene's Sniper Crossbow: _"A specialized crossbow with a custom sight, rigged and tuned by Irene the Shade for extreme precision damage at a range._

 _Gazing down the sights takes an immense level of focus, and bolts have a tendency to pass through flesh, but when aimed at the head, produce an almost assured kill if luck is with the carrier._

 _Weapon Art: Deadeye. Hold L2 to gaze down the monocular for a long-distance shot, which inflicts catastrophic headshot damage. Hold L1 to steadily increase zoom. Such careful aiming takes ample time and patience, something one cannot hope to find in the heat of battle, restricting use to great ranges."_

Incoming No-Scopes… As the description states, it reloads and fires unbearably slowly, with the sights consuming FP continually until you zoom out. However, if you headshot someone (the headshot damage scales with luck), it will inflict a gigantic amount of damage, and quite possibly 1HK all but the tankiest enemy at an absurd range. On the opposite end, if you hit the body, it will do minimal damage.

You trade the ashes to the Shrine Handmaid for Smoke Bombs, which can be bought in limitless amounts, but you can only hold five at a time:

" _Small pellet of volatile powder that explodes when impacted on a hard surface, stunning nearby enemies for a very short time._

 _Such a simple trick will not stop enemies from striking back, merely disorient them a brief moment._

 _Used to facilitate a speedy escape from a tough fight."_

Mainly a PvP item, as anything in about 8 feet will be blinded, which appears on the receiving end as a bright flash that lasts about 1.5 seconds, followed by blurry vision for four seconds. You still have full range of movement, you just can't see what you're doing. You can also roll through the explosion and not be effected if you time it right, or just roll out of range, though the throw on the Smoke Bomb is very fast. Should be a fun staple in a ninja build.

After that, I continued searching for Ednatiel, but turned up nothing. There was an inaccessible door that needed a key, but I couldn't find one.

It took forever, but I finally figured it out. I had to get to the next level down the same way I did the first time. There was a spot in the wall, at one point, where the bricks looked pretty shoddy. Attacking it multiple times caused it to break, and I had the option to slide down below.

The cell door was open this time, allowing me onto a balcony running along the wall of the prison. After going down one side, I found a second inaccessible door, and a bonfire. After resting, I went the other way, onto a natural outcropping on the cave wall, putting me over the gorge.

Taking a look from the outside, I saw the prison was like a giant bridge between one side and other, over the chasm. Before I could get too good of a look, an NPC invader barged in with an interesting title:

"Abyssal Dark Sprit Gladiator Torbjorn". He had the Master's chestpiece, knight boots, and a Bellkeeper Helm from Dark Souls 2. His phantom hue was almost completely black with dark blue highlights, the Abyss covenant from Dark Souls 2 rung a bell there. He didn't have that much poise or defense, but he was pretty tanky and wielding a brand new weapon, a net and trident combo.

He tended to poke a lot, but also lashed out with the net, which caused the character to become ensnared, letting him spam away while I was unable to move. It seemed the only way to escape was to wait 5 seconds, but hitting O as fast as possible seemed to make it come off nearly immediately.

Killing him nets you the Gladiator (Bellkeeper) Helm and "Barbed Trident and Net".

Gladiator Helm: _"Brass headwear popular among the various blood-sport fighters found in some kingdoms. While a little gaudy to look at, it offers solid defenses and poise."_

Barbed Trident and Net: _"A gladiator weapon, loved by the crowds for the simple brutality of these re-purposed fishing tools with nails welded along various points._

 _The off-hand net offers limited protection as a shield, its real power lies in its ability to ensnare targets, allowing the bearer of this fiendish weapon to stab away with wild abandon._

 _While a crowd favorite, it's derided as a dishonorable and twisted weapon in war._

 _Weapon Art: Tangle. Draw net behind you, then cast it forward, temporally immobilizing targets and allowing for unhindered attacking. A barbaric weapon for sure, but the simplicity of use and lethality are highly appealing."_

Has sub-par D strength and D dexterity scaling, but it can be infused and both the weapon art and the trident inflict bleed. One-Handing gives you a standard bleed spear with any off-hand you want, Two handing gives you a spear with a wadded up net that can block with L1. With L2, you throw the net over your shoulder, causing it to unfurl, followed by sweeping it forward.

Anyone caught gets wrapped up, allowing you to hit them until they break out.

As I looked at the jail again, I could see a second layer of cells beneath the ones I dropped into, and looked for a way to get down, finding an outcropping over the gorge to drop onto, scaling over to the cells. Going down the way, I finally found Ednatiel in a cell. She can't be seen, leaning against the back wall, but the Talk prompt alerts you to her presence.

"Haven't you done enough to me? Fine, do as you wish…"

"That voice… you came to rescue me?" she laughs, though her voice is a little worn. "I'm in sorry form, aren't I? When I returned, they were waiting for me. Held off until I had all my things away, then they burst in. I gave one of them a few good lashes, but together they were able to overwhelm me, I didn't stand a chance."

"Hey, don't look at me that way. They couldn't take away… oh, who am I fooling, I'm ruined. Those two 'sisters' said something about 'another Chosen Undead', I think. Whatever they did, I heard a voice from the hall say I wasn't a threat to him, but he wanted to make sure I couldn't help you again." She draws a sharp breath, shifting in the darkness, "I want to say the shame was worse than the pain, but I'm a pretty bad liar. They did something to my arms and legs, I can't move. It's dark…"

"They locked me down here, where they were sure I'd never be found. The key is gone. They said they threw it down a gorge. You're pretty strong, but I don't think you can pry that gate open. I'm afraid… I'm not sure I'm getting out of this one."

"But, you're out there. That's what really matters. Carry on, since I cannot. You do not know… what it means to me."

"There's no use fussing over me. Just go. Please." (loops).

Departing the cell, there is one way back up to the surface, aside from yet another locked door. The way up is across the same outcrop you dropped onto, walking into a cave with a ladder leading up to a small chamber. A second ladder can be kicked down, allowing you to drop down to the first level, where you fought Torbjorn. At this spot, there is a different way forward, which leads down a winding passage, into the entrance of a mine, a new location tag coming up:

 **Derelict Silver Mine**

You step into a massive chamber, with various walkways, cranes, and spiderwebs all over the wall, a huge furnace at the far side. A horror cord begins as you walk in, and as you walk forward it gets louder and louder. Between the total, and I mean, TOTAL darkness save for any source of light you bring and a few faint silhouettes, and the chord, you get the distinct impression that you are _not_ supposed to be here.

A light appears ahead of you that starts to creep closer. As it gets close enough, you can finally make out a single hollow carrying a lantern. He stops, wheezing heavily, before throwing his head back and screaming.

Three health bars appear.

… Fuck

 _Silver Golem, The Slaves Below, and Grotesque Aberrations_ is a triple hoard-style puzzle boss (confused yet?) that is both easy, and ridiculously hard depending on how well you handle a clusterfuck of enemies all over the place.

The theme is slow, brooding, and dramatic as enemies swarm the level, materializing at the edges of your little circle of light, if you brought a torch. There is a sort of twisted evil conveyed, telling of horrid deeds in the dark and the horrors of the underground, with a faint folk element, as these were regular people once (/watch?v=1VmORBsaldM).

There are three main components:

Silver Golem: Very slow moving, massive beef-cake of a boss with ungodly damage resistance and strength, kills everything that gets in his way. He has the appearance of a mass of scrap metal and ore, all cobbled together, with a giant axe. He marks his presence with giant footsteps, and a towering silhouette.

The Slaves Below: An assortment of hollows in mining attire, wielding pickaxes, hammers, and red hot hunks of metal. Some of them carry lanterns, which will actually help you spot enemies and places, so you want to leave them alive if you can.

Grotesque Aberrations: An assortment of repulsive, twisted insects, animals, and monsters fewer in number but a great deal more dangerous than the Slaves. Some of them fly, and will swoop down on you from the darkness, arguably the most dangerous as they are highly mobile and can easily take you by surprise.

Each of the three factions will attack eachother, but it becomes obvious that simply cutting them down will not properly deal with them. The Slaves and Aberrations have collective health, but after a handful of seconds of cutting some down, the collective health will replenish as more rise from below, an endless hoard of monsters and hollows trapped in the depths.

The Silver Golem has one health bar, but even with both factions and you attacking him at once, you'll be hacking away for a thousand years before he's downed, and half the time, your weapons will simply bounce off, as he is made of solid rock.

There's a trick to defeating this boss, but it will take some perception as you frantically try to dodge the golem and wade through the surrounding enemies.

You can find a broken down ore refinery at the back of the cave, still a little hot, a message lies near the base:

"Try Melting." You pull a lever, and the whole cave shakes as the ancient contraption sputters to life, but that still won't be enough. You need to get it hotter.

Running past everything, and using the lantern hollows to help get an idea how the room is laid out, as taking different paths helps break some of the opposition up, you can find a bellows powered by a water wheel. Pulling the lever, the wheel starts to turn, but jams. Hitting the wheel several times will cause it to finally snap, spinning rapidly, the bellows groaning as the mill turns round and round.

The refinery on the far side starts to turn deep red, smoldering as the vessel starts to swell, unable to contain the heat anymore, but you still can't breach it yet. So, you get a friend to help you…

Baiting the Silver Golem away from the mobs towards you is like leading an easily distracted dog by the leash, but getting him close, you can bait out an attack.

He easily smashes the ore smelter, his arm getting buried in the steel, giving you a moment to run as the whole thing begins to peel open, dumping red hot metal and magma onto the floor, spreading out as more pipes rupture, melted by the flow in a cascade.

You have to run fast, and find a spot on the high ground as the floor floods, destroying most of the Slaves and Aberrations, but also stranding you as the level rises. The golem bursts from the lava, partially melted, but also growing larger and more deformed, smashing the ground and spewing magma as he fuses with the heaps of ore and metal around the cave.

The rising lava will kill you and everything else, you need to cross various bridges and gaps, hacking through anything in your way, as fast as possible, while the Silver Golem continues to harass you.

Finding a winding path to the top, you come to a huge column of rock nearly falling over, the Golem crawling up a wall in a desperate attempt to get you. You push the rock over, the column falling onto the beast's head, crushing all the way through it and sending it into the magma once more, one-shoting it.

You are now able to drop down to a second path, beneath the pillar, going to the wheel on a burst pipe, turning it and sending a cascade of water below.

In a cutscene, there is a gust of blazing steam frying everything not killed by lava. The golem, still impaled, pulls itself above the surface one last time, before the torrent of water freezes him a sheet of rock and metal, entombing him.

You kick down a ladder, dropping all the way down to the floor. You get the "Soul of a Silver Golem" the moment the cutscene ends, but you can loot a "Scrap Heap" off the still twitching, but harmless golem.

" _Soul of the Silver Golem, who stood watch over one of Londor's silver mines._

 _Silver is valued for ceremonial purposes, due to its resemblance to moonlight, and is used to forge powerful arcane weapons and jewelry by the Kingdom of Londor. Golems like these are crafted from scrap and soul fragments to save material, while providing a sentry to watch over hollow slaves._

 _The Lord of Londor is ever vigilant for signs of dissenting hollows that threaten Londor, and many such threats have been subdued in a lifetime of labor and imprisonment."_

Scrap Heap: _"A pile of useless ore and silver, bathed in the dark of the Abyss for eons, mutating into a powerful conduit of energy. A master smith, with a touch of divine knowledge, could possibly turn this into something valuable."_

Searching around, there was one more secret left on the frozen metal and rock.

The floor had risen by a lot in some areas, allowing me to get into hallway with a collapsed stairway that was inaccessible earlier. The hall ended in a pile of rubble, barely any distance. But, there are no meaningless things in Souls. There was a guardrail to one side, over a chasm, and looking down you can barely make out a ledge you can drop onto. Running through a hole in the gate, carefully working down the long drop, rolling ledge to ledge, I finally hit the floor, a corpse splattered on the ground with an item:

Londor Prison Skeleton Key: _"A master key that can open any lock in the prison beneath the Sable Church of Londor, suspended above the Abyss._

 _In ancient times, before the Lord of Londor was able to bend disembodied souls to his will, every jail warden was granted a key like this, in order to free and bind any prisoner of his choosing to move them as necessary, or open cells when the key was lost._

 _These wardens fell prone to many 'accidents', surrounded by furious hollows, leading to their eventual replacement."_

Running through the empty lava tube, you eventually hit a hole in the wall, dropping down to the ladder room from earlier.

You are now able to open Ednatiel's cell, which I wasted no time in doing. Walking in, you can see Ednatiel without the Untrue Dark Ring, revealing a completely rotted, hollow body with no hair, emaciated limbs and torso, and a pool of blood all around her.

"Wha- how did you?"

You area granted two options:

 **Do Nothing** : "Please… don't leave me."

 **Heal Ednatiel** : You stoop down and administer some of your Estus.

"Ah… that's better. You have my thanks. To think, I scoffed at the stories of maidens being swept off their feet by fair, just knights. I believed I was better than that. I'm sorry you have to see me this way."

"Hmph, don't be bashful. I repulse you in this form. This body is my own making. I allowed myself to hollow because I had something I wanted to forget. Besides, this body, I deserve it, for what I have done."

"Nevermind. Perhaps, one day, I'll tell you. But for now… I'd like to slip into something more comfortable, namely my armor and sword. Now, if you would please-"

She grants you a key: _"Key to the Groggy Crag basement. Ednatiel, burdened with the memories of her sins, used the haze of hollowing to cast away all but the smallest flickers of herself. But, her past was never far away, all her old supplies resting snuggly in the basement, out of sight, Ednatiel unable to bring herself to destroy them."_

"Don't ask me how I was able to hide this from the jailors. It will be awhile before I'm able to move, so I'll rest here a little while. But, I know you'll be eager to take everything I have and run, so I'll give you a little leverage to come back. As you already know, I have powerful knowledge. Powerful, dangerous knowledge. I'll grant you a piece, in return for something to keep the cold away."

"Don't worry. I'll keep my head low."

"You really are worried, aren't you? Don't worry. I've lived through worse." (loops).

Warping back to the Inn and going to the basement, I found all of Ednatiel's Equipment in a chest:

The Binded Set has the same description about belts over various parts of the body, but the lore description is different:

" _In her later years as an assassin, Ednatiel the Nail donned this Executioner's Garb from a distant land as a method of instilling terror in her victims and symbolizing her stance as punisher of mankind. Even at the height of her infamy, not a soul understood what cause she truly held, or what could inspire such bitterness towards her fellow man."_

Ednatiel's Nail: _"Shortsword of Ednatiel the Nail. This weapon is unusually broad, heavy, and thick for its type, much more so than a typical Shadow Dagger._

 _An iron plate rests over the fingers and knuckles in order to strike very hard with the fist, one of several subtle design choices that fit Ednatiel's aggressive, unrelenting fighting style, a product of personal ingenuity paired with a lifetime of masterful training._

 _Weapon Art: Frenzy. Unleash a spirited battlecry that boosts damage and grants quickstep for a short time. Channels the savage yet masterful fighting style of Ednatiel, rumored to be among the greatest swordsmen ever born."_

This weapon has a few interesting features. For one, it's a shortsword that scales quality in Strength and Dexterity, it has a weapon art that is both strength and dexterity oriented, and it has a moveset that combines a longsword and dagger. When you try to kick, it's replaced by the katana "push" from Demon's Souls, which is faster, covers more distance, and deals extremely high poise damage and stamina damage to shields.

When one handed, it acts just like a dagger, but with much lower critical hits and much higher AR, as it's intended to be used as a normal weapon. The running attack and rolling attack are replaced by a "push" as well.

When two handed, you hold it one handed, but bring your other arm up and assume a knife fighter's stance, which turns your strong and light attacks into incredibly deep "Carving" motions that dole out a lot higher damage, at the cost of being slower, just like two-handed attacks on regular weapons.

L1 is a right-handed parry, and L2 is your weapon art.

This is definitely for those who like to play as aggressive as possible, and also like daggers as regular weapons.

Returning to her, Ednatiel is standing against the wall, arms crossed, clearly feeling a lot better. When you give her clothes (you can get them back later):

"Thank you. Now, summon me once more, we'll tear this place down one little piece at a time. I knew the Sable Church was ugly, but this… this is not what Father would have wanted…"

"Oh, I didn't forgot. I will impart some of my knowledge to you. This one I created myself. You will be the first to ever learn it."

Remembrance (Dark Miracle): _"Cast dark over the body, which will retain damage over a limited period. Cast a second time to reject damage, reflecting it back on the offender with greater force._

 _The cycle of vengeance is a cycle of wounds being passed back and forth, until neither side remembers where the pain began._

 _Dark Miracles are born from the human heart and fueled by Humanity, this channels the desire to alleviate pain by destroying dealers of pain, executing twisted justice born of righteous fury."_

This miracle lasts for an entire 90 seconds, but behaves in a very unique way. At first, it does nothing, aside from giving you a purple aura. However, when you cast it again to detonate it, it causes you to cast what looks like WoG with Dark damage, only it deals damage equal to all the damage you took over the last 10 seconds while healing you by that amount.

So if someone pounds on you with a Dark Sword for 750 damage, then you start casting the "detonation" within 10 seconds of then, and they hit you another time for 100 damage, the purple AoE explosion will deal close to 1,000 damage or higher if you have lots of faith and intelligence, and HEAL YOU for 850 HP, effectively negating all damage within 10 seconds.

This of course has a gigantic FP cost, so it's a one-time deal without Ash Estus, and the purple explosion of doom has a sizable windup. Casting a purple explosion of doom also stops the miracle early, so it's essentially a 10 second window within 1 and a half minutes.

Still, should be baller for baiting in gankers, taking a ton of damage during the cast, then nuking all but the host while regenerating.

"Use it well. Now go, I'm more than ready to proceed." (loops).

Before heading up to the Sable Church, I stopped by Firelink to see what Ludleth could give me for the Silver Golem:

Grand Silver Halberd: _"A great mass of silvered iron, borne aloft by the Silver Golem beneath Londor._

 _Designed to cleave through rows of unruly prisoners, time and again with great sweeping motions._

 _Weapon Art: Spin Sweep. Sweep foes in a large spinning motion, and utilize momentum to transition into and overhanded strong attack slash."_

Has the sweeps of a halberd paired with the thrust into a sweep of a Greatsword, but otherwise has no special abilities.

Immolation Sphere (pyromancy): _"Symbolizes the silver forges of the underground. Condense flame into a ball of hot metal, then cast it at opponents._

 _These orbs weld themselves to metal and burrow into the flesh, disintegrating all in contact with the flames and greatly weakening defenses._

 _Fire is a thing to be feared and shied from, all who forget this are doomed to learn this fact as ashes."_

Basically a high-speed fireball, with the caveat that it's surrounded by a bloom of fiery energy, and when it hits a person or even a wall, it sticks to that surface for a time, constantly burning anything too close with that fiery bloom. Additionally, it will make them more vulnerable to damage since it basically scorches armor right off.

The catch is that it also burns you, your allies, basically anything in contact.

Andre also has a few interesting things when you give him the Scrap Heap:

"My, what is this? Ore bathed in the Abyss… oh, this is black stuff. I don't know where you found this, but it should probably be brought back. But… I could use it to forge something truly spectacular. Would that please you? Ah, I'll craft it nonetheless. Hmm. Oh dear, most of this won't do at all. It's been eroded away by the Abyss. Brittle as old chalk, and other parts are much too black for my coals to warm. There is not much good material to work with, what would you prefer?"

 **Forge me a Sword**

 **Forge me Armor**

"Very well. With the old Lord's as my witness, I will turn this accursed stone into the finest armament you ever laid eyes on. Give me some time, this is delicate work."

He will not bring it up until you leave the shrine and come back four times, when he will have your new piece ready:

Sword: "Here it is. Black as a moonless sky, and sharp enough to cut it open to. It was a pleasure."

Blade of the Chasm: _"A great, slate black blade, forged of metal reclaimed from the Abyss, tempered and honed by Andre of Astora. This weapon is tall as a man, but so light it feels like you're holding nothing, and the silver grip bears stunning carvings._

 _Peering deeply into the blade, one can make out numerous writhing sprites, the Humanity of the wielder boosting attack power, but gnawing away at the wielder's soul._

 _Weapon Art: Split the earth. Call on the spirits of the Abyss, then plunge the blade deep into the ground to open numerous fissures in the ground, channeling the eroding tendrils of the dark."_

Has a pretty average claymore moveset, but it's abnormally large for a Greatsword, giving it a longer reach while only taking 15 Strength and 15 Dexterity. It scales E in Strength and Dex, but has an unlisted S scaling in Luck and has very high base damage.

At 50 Luck, this Greatsword has the highest physical damage all Greatswords, but cannot be buffed or infused and it steadily drains your health.

Its weapon art attack plunges the blade into the ground, which causes a spread of cracks to appear and a column of Dark to erupt around you, the fissures exploding with white light a moment later, dealing massive damage over a wide area. The blade is cloaked with white for 5 seconds, making the sword resemble a Humanity, but the effect is only visual.

Armor: "There we are. A suit of shining mail. On my honor as a smith, no blade will ever pierce it."

Silvered Armor of the Chasm: _"Helm/Gauntlets/Leggings/Platemail forged from black ore, and coated with cursed silver._

 _Wearing this makes your hair stand on end as frigid cold sprites dance over the skin, suckling on the humanity of the wearer._

 _Boasts superb poise and defenses, but users will slowly feel their vitality sapped by this cursed mail unless they feed it an unending supply of Souls."_

It occupies the lower end of middle weight class, but has very high poise and armor for its weight, including a gigantic amount of Dark defense, but it slowly drains health. On kills, it will restore a little bit of your health, but take 20% of your souls as payment, so unless you are running person to person, killing everything as fast as possible, your health will be a net loss.

Fittingly, it is covered with jagged scales with a thick red cape flying all over, giving it a profile similar to the Berserker Armor, if it were silver.

With all of that done, we are ready to go back and explore the top side of the Sable Church.


	7. Sable Church Apex

A/N: **Whew** , now I know how the Half Life 3 devs feel. This went on for way longer than I thought for reasons unknown, but hopefully it was worth the wait.

All that's left is to finish this bitch. Hopefully it takes a bit less than a full month.

* * *

You start your journey through the main cathedral of the Sable Church near the entrance to the prison, Ednatiel's signature nearby, sitting in the hallway down from the bonfire. Like before, you only have to beat the boss with her at your side to advance her quest, you do not have to bring her through the entire level, though she will carry herself quite competently.

On summoning, she will offer a little exposition before you venture forward, which will be very helpful later on if you are paying attention:

"I'm glad you could call on me. I couldn't make it very far alone. This place… don't let your guard down an instant. This is the home of every great warrior and mind in Londor, the 'royalty' of the hollows. They aren't the absent-minded, soul-addled shambles you're used to seeing out in the wild. These ones are intelligent, adept, and very old. You will underestimate them at your own peril."

"Before you delve too far, beware the Daughters of the Abyss, the handmaidens of the Primordial Serpent. Madeleine, Yuria, and Liliane. The former two are the elder sisters, both masters of the sword, while Liliane, the younger sister, focuses her talents on weaving Dark miracles and recounting her master's sermons to hollows. None of them are especially dangerous alone, but I learned the hard way… if even two of them are present, flee for your life. They will call on the Abyss to strengthen eachother. The battle will become one of endurance, one you can't hope to win."

"Thankfully, the middle sister is not here, as far as I know, leaving the Eldest and Youngest alone, though that is little consolation. Liliane will destroy you with her sorceries long before you can get close to her, and Madeleine is an inhuman master of single combat. She fights with a blade and bow, and uses all manner of treacherous magics. When the two of them stand together, there is no hope of victory. I pray you have a plan."

"I'm afraid I've told you everything I know. I'm afraid I'm as blind as you past this point." (loops).

Ednatiel has a visibly different attitude progressing forward. She doesn't spam gestures at you, taunt, or act nearly as cocky as earlier. When holding still, she rests her arms at her side, same with Warmth healing, not taking the time to sit and relax or acting aloof when not actively fighting. Weather this is due to fear for her own safety, new respect for you, or both, is uncertain.

Another change in her demeanor is that she now aggressively attacks invaders, no longer interested in watching you fight it out, which is probably a good thing since a certain covenant makes this area a massive invasion hotspot, more on that a bit later.

The entire place is set up as a grand castle, the stone grey and aged, but glassy smooth with polished marble floors and silver candlesticks and chandeliers, paintings hanging the walls and violet carpets laid out over the floors. The palace seems to have been made a long time ago, but expanded over time, more and more added on as Londor continued to grow.

The majority of the enemies you fight are Londor nobles, who wear dark, lavish royal clothing with various simple weapons, a few of them utilizing ranged Dark Sorceries. They have little poise and defense, but like the Lothric knights, they are mobile, unpredictable enemies with pretty fair swordplay.

A few of them wield paired rapiers, which can drop if you are fortunate, as well as their armor:

Noble Estocs: _"A pair of silver Estocs commonly utilized by Londor Nobles, derived from Drang swordsmenship. The alternating jabs both confuse and heavily wound unwary opponents, and can easily breach the guard of a shield._

 _Weapon Skill: Stance. Hold L2 to enter into a passive stance. Hit Light Attack for a quick lunge forward with both blades that deals heavy damage, or Strong Attack for a flurry of light attacks from both blades. The warriors of Drang were known for reckless aggression and fast, repetitive attacks. Scorned for their mindless simplicity, their tactics left little opening and proved frustratingly hard to counter."_

Nothing to see, just the good old "poke poke poke poke poke" of good 'ol Dark Souls 2, though it's worth nothing that they seem to have above average Hyperarmor on the heavy L1s. Unlike the normal Estoc, it looks like the L1, and both L2 attacks are in fact unblockable by a shield, but the one handed attacks can be stopped as normal.

Londor Noble Set: _"This Dark, elaborately ornamented gloves/shoes/dress or shirt possess excellent craftsmanship and pure silver hem, modeled on a night sky._

 _Over the eons, Londor has risen from a dilapidated ruin to a mighty kingdom, the resident Lord inviting distinguished hollows to the higher levels of the Sable Church to conduct their work in peace, as it is imperative mankind have their finest men and woman ready for the Age of Dark._

 _It is no secret, however, that no noble is permitted access to the dwelling place of the Lord of Londor, and they are under constant watch by his adopted Daughters. When asked why the Lord treats them with such scorn and scrutiny, the Daughters reveal it is unknown even to them."_

Another piece of hidden loot is within a blacksmith shed in one of the courtyards, which can be retrieved off the forge:

Talisman Shield: _"A powerful arcane shield forged of sacred silver, inset with numerous enchanted runes. The metal, intended to lay snuggly over the arm like a gauntlet, is much too thin and much too soft to serve as direct defense, and instead generates a defensive wall of arcane energy when raised, granting limited defenses against common steel, but phenomenal resilience against all kinds of magic attack._

 _Requiring a great deal of time and resources, only a few of these shields are known to exist._

 _Weapon Art: Banish Magic. Focus energy into a deflecting parry that can repel physical attacks and turn enemy magic against the user."_

Requires a good chunk of Faith and Intelligence to wield, but it only takes 3 Strength and 3 Dexterity to carry. It also has a fun spell parry, since it will not only stop the spell from hitting you, it will actually reflect it at them and deal bonus damage. If the spell can't bounce off the shield to damage them, it will still nullify the damage.

Hidden behind a bookcase in one of the foyers is a noteworthy ring:

Displacing Clutch Ring: " _A large ring depicting a grasping hand, a set of red, blue, yellow, and violet gems set along the knuckles. Grants enhanced power to all types of elemental damage, but greatly reduces defenses. Said to be modeled after the ring of a great sage whom long since departed this world._

 _A priceless treasure, the skill and delicacy required to bind so many magics into a single ring is nothing short of transcendent_."

The magic boost is right at 10% (compared to 15% for normal clutch rings), but it reduces your defenses by three times as much as a regular clutch ring, the benefit being it can stack with a second clutch ring and if you have a weapon with multiple elements on it, all of them will receive a slight boon.

There is a hilariously terrible NPC invasion if you run into the right area in Ember form, "Noble Doris", who clearly graduated top of her class in the Maldron school of Cuntwagoning Assholery.

When she first invades, you will not see her. But, if you keep heading up a set of stairs, you may notice a stray little statue is currently creeping up on you. As soon as you turn around, it freezes, so it's totes legit.

If you hold still a moment too long, she will break chameleon and Hornet backstab you with an Enchanted Knight Axe, which is suffice to say an immediate kill. She uses "Call Over" to taunt as you die, just to make sure.

Going back and fighting her head on, she wears the Londor Noble Set, a buckler, and wields a cat o' nine tails. Her phantom hue is deep black, as she is an Abyssal Dark Spirit. Her whip has pretty incredible bleed buildup, but the highlight of the fight is that she parry spams… a lot, and when she's not spamming parry she starts fishing for backstabs, refusing to stop strafing.

When she starts backstabbing or lands a parry, she switches to the giant axe to instakill you, taunts, then resets you to the bonfire.

Oh, and it gets better. Should you come close to killing her when she's out of Sunny D, or if you have a phantom present, she will sprint at impossibly fast speeds to escape you. Moments later, it informs you there's a Dark Spirit getting summoned, even though you clearly haven't touched a sign.

You arrive in time for a Red Phantom with a pale haze to rise up by the name of "Duelist Clarence", who immediately pops a Great Heal to restore her, Doris cheering the whole time.

It's significantly harder in this phase, as Doris can be healed nearly unlimitedly by Great Heal if she gets hurt, running back to Clarence. If you run for him, she will certainly try to backstab you, but if you attack Doris, Clarence spams lightning spears at you to ward you off.

Thankfully, Clarence is pathetically weak, an absolute pushover without Doris if you kill her and focus on him or if you just kill him before Doris catches you. He fatrolls on the floor with basic Knight armor, his only tactic for defending himself is R1 Spam with a standard rapier and turtling, with lightning spear spam if you are even a little bit away.

The fight is easy and hilarious if you have Ednatiel, since you can focus on Doris and laugh your ass off while you watch the two NPCs duke it out, the fight resembling the fight you'd get if a 12-year old called a grizzly bear a faggot and punched it on the nose, then tried to survive the ensuing melee.

Thankfully, if you kill Doris, but die before you can finish off Clarence, his Red Summon sign will become permanently available for use, but only after Doris has been defeated. He will rise from his summon sign, duel bow, then proceed to bitch out, hide behind mobs, and Estus chug when his health is even a bit compromised.

Never change FromSoft.

Each one drops a different item, Doris dropping her weapon and Clarence dropping a very interesting ring:

Cat o' Nine Tails: _"A whip with nine knots, each tipped by a sharp barb. Used for corporal punishment, though the delicate ornamentation on the black grip suggests loving care from its old owner._

 _Never intended as an instrument of battle, this weapon has limited effectiveness against armor, but tears open bare flesh with ease._

 _Weapon Art: Pull Taught. Draw the leather straps tightly between the lands to raise bleeding potential and range for a short time."_

It cannot be buffed or infused, has quality C/C scaling, and has an extremely low attack rating, along with being much shorter than the average whip, behaving more like a mace. However, don't let the very low bleed and AR fool you, it actually strikes nine individual times, with a "sweet spot" if you strike the center of the torso that connects all nine hits. It's Bleed will not outpace the Warden Twinblades with Carthus Rouge as it cannot have bleed applied to it and has slower attacks, but it will be dramatically more effective than a weapon with latent bleed without infusions.

Friend's Ring: " _A heavy, forbidden ring. Peering closely at the iron band with many rubies, one can faintly make out swirls of red energy associated with Red-Eye invaders. Its powerful magic can allow one to be summoned into other worlds by red invaders to become their ally._

 _A knight of any honor and value would throw this in the gutter, for what madman would seek to aide a hostile phantom in battle?"_

Ironically named to be sure, this lets you place a Red Sign that's invisible to regular passersby, but to a Red Phantom, it will appear as a bright red sign with a white haze. That's right, Red Phantoms can summon eachother into battle now, appearing as pale red spirits. As such, Reds summoned into battle are IMMUNE to the attacks of other invaders, and cannot damage other invaders, only hosts and phantoms, even if the ring is swapped out.

It's pretty overpowered, but it thankfully has restrictions to keep it from being unfair. If the hosts is- **hurk- hahhaha- hahehehehehehe heh heh rofl** , alone, your sign will not appear, so no free 2v1s, however, if a phantom is present, or in the process of being summoned in, you will be available in that world to lend an assist.

If the host has two phantoms, two pale red spirits can be summoned to make it a 3v3, and they can R1 spam with wild abandon without hurting eachother. If the host is killed, all members of the party get the reward of their respective covenant.

After unlocking the front door of the Sable Church from the inside, I felt free to find the boss, located in a great tower across a bridge, separated from the rest of the Church. The Interior resembles a holy shrine, a great black doorway at the back, the room a rotunda with pillars and countless burning candles on the lower portions, and the area above a spiraling, dim shaft covered with friezes depicting death, hollowing, and the Lordran of the past.

The far end is warded by a fog wall and a lone figure standing in wait for you. As you cross the threshold, the room fills with tranquil, grim singing, which seems to be echoing from somewhere high above, the instrumentation highly minimal, emphasizing the passionate tone of the singer (/watch?v=B27u6lkqU3I ). The figure starts walking towards you, and you quickly realize she is wearing a dress identical to Yuria, but with different weapons as she closes in.

She has a silver bow on her back, with a silver daito (Japanese Longsword) in her right hand and a Talisman Shield on the right.

If you have Ednatiel, she will echo what you are thinking: "Something's wrong."

No fog wall or health bar appears to signify it is the penultimate boss fight, you can walk out whenever you want, and Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss, is represented as a normal NPC, which reflects the plain, tired tone of the "boss" music as she calls you out, trading hits with you with her great swordsmenship and use of her silver shortbow, which seems to fire bolts of Dark rather than arrows.

"Our Lord was right. No Hollow can resist the hunger. You would tear down everything we've made for ourselves here. This is where your legacy ends, I will strike you down, again and again, until you stop coming back."

She does not speak again, wearing you down with her extremely advanced tactics, but it becomes apparent something is wrong. Your attacks BARELY leave a scratch on her, and her health regenerates exponentially fast, dark embers trailing from above and healing her faster than you could possibly damage her.

Something, or someone, is keeping her in the fight.

All it takes is a closer look to realize what's going on. Afterall, there are three Daughters. A spiral staircase is visible outside the tower, with the entrance blocked by an illusory wall, which you can easily break through, climbing up above.

As you near the top, the boss music starts to fade back in, until you enter the vacant belltower. A circular pit with a railing stands in the center, a lavish bedchamber situated around the edge, with the youngest Daughter of the Abyss, Liliane resting on her bed, praying.

The singing stops, leaving the boss theme slow and sad as she stands up from her rest, engaging you with ICE magic, shooting icy lances and streams at you, as well as raising barriers to impede your progress, speaking in an agitated tone as she does, making a few more comments as you wear her down, though it's clear that she's not much a fighter on her own, and while she can heal herself, they can be interrupted easily if you stay on her:

"You are the one she told me about, my dear sister."

"You've seen the good works we've done and still you persist? Heartless usurper, do you even hear me?"

"No, I will not fall. I refuse…"

Towards the end of the fight, she is able to summon in Abyssal Dark Spirits in a desperate effort to defeat you, and can summon up to two if you have multiple summons. When she dies, invaders become unable to harm you as they are sent home, so she should stay your priority.

When you kill her, she collapses, wailing in pain, and leaving you with one last word of defiance:

"You heartless devil. I deny you my soul… dear sister, I'm sorry. I'm coming…" She sighs, vanishing as a sizable black mass of humanity pours from her body and through the floor.

Heading back down to the ground floor by the same stairs you came up, you enter the boss room again, only this time a cutscene plays:

Madeleine is crying, and as the camera moves, you can see she is cradling the black soul of Liliane.

"Why? Dear sister." She moans, hugging it close. She looks over her shoulder, tensing as several tendrils of blackness begin swirling around her as she stands up, "You… will pay for this. Even if my body is destroyed in the process, I will take you with me."

She raises the soul up, cracking it like a humanity, your character flinching as he/she is driven back by a strong gust, frost sweeping through the air. Madeleine keels over, her body convulsing, until finally she bursts open, tendrils erupting from her back, similar to the hollows with the giant black things bursting from them, her bloodied screams indicating the pain of the transformation.

You see a frosted, bloody helmet fall to the ground after a moment, then a tangle of bleach white hair, a trail of misty breath escaping her unseen lips.

It pulls back and you get a full view of the Daughter, long, feathery tails trailing behind her, falling out the back of the torn dress, the entire back ripped open to allow massive blue wings, clusters of feathery tendrils, into the open air, her entire body wreathed in ice.

"Fade away, and die." She growls, another deep breath exhaling a frosty mist.

This is where the true fight begins, _Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss_ receiving a full health bar and thundering boss theme, one of the best in the series, as it speaks to the power and majesty of this swordswoman, with a faint melancholy note (/watch?v=CtHDsw4FioQ)

She still fights with a sword and bow, but with unbelievably more powerful and grand-scale attacks. She alternates between the two weapons, each one possessing a different set of attacks, allowing some predictability to her moves:

Sword: She uses her sword in a manner similar to other enemies, with a combination of lunging slashes and thrusts. Nothing especially hard to handle until she mixes it up in phase two, which we'll talk about later.

She is dramatically more mobile than her NPC counterpart, using her wings to assist her in sweeping back out of danger, launching long-range leap attacks, and using the Sir Alonne slide in multiple directions, which can be disorienting, and her sword attacks deal Frostbite, a hazard in itself.

Bow: Her bow is actually a bit harder to deal with, as she uses her enhanced mobility to stay out of your reach, launching bolts of dark at the end of her rolls and sidesteps, occasionally flying into the air and shooting at you from above.

These can sorta be blocked, but it's not advised as the arrows are made of energy and deal 100% Dark damage, and they HURT if you take a direct hit.

Her phase one is pretty hard to deal with, but at 60% HP, when she enters phase two, she becomes devilishly tricky, really testing your ability to memorize movesets and react split-second. She becomes enwreathed in a black haze, and begins teleporting around the map, blinking side to side.

This blink teleporting screws with your reaction speed extremely badly, the boss trying to confuse you, since it's obvious a head-on fight isn't working.

She'll start a jump attack, then blink right up to you and hit you with a slash attack into a combo instead. She draws her bow, teleports to one side, then the other, fires, then teleports in your face with the sword while you're still reacting to the arrow.

That's something else she does: change weapons, and by extension movesets, very fast, and since she does it while teleporting, it conceals what weapon she will use, unlike before. She will also, just to fuck with you further, use a bow at closer range, shotgun blasting you off your feet, and stand a ways away with her sword and slide in,

In other words, you can't say "She's far away, therefore she'll use her bow!" or vice versa.

A mercy that holds the fight back from being too unfair is that there's a little under 2 seconds of delay between her teleporting in with an attack ready and her fully materializing and launching that attack, giving you a second to check her weapon and guess what she will do.

At 40%, she'll enter Phase 3, which is mostly phase two, but she gains ice attacks that grant enhanced range and area denial, leaving patches of ice where the attacks land. There's also a handicap that, if you stand directly on ice and roll, you'll slip and fall on your back, which could cost you dearly if you trip at the wrong time.

When she flies in the air to attack you with a bow, she will start firing barrages of the things that force you to run, slower bolts that home on in you, and a long, charged shot that explodes midair and showers the immediate area with smaller bolts.

Like many bosses before her, she will clone herself, with the notable exception that her clones deal zero damage and fade away upon touching you. Instead of hurting you directly, they will play a shell game, teleporting around eachother, before attacking in rapid succession. Only one will do damage, but you don't want to dodge a harmless one only to hit an actual attack.

Her damage is on the low side, but fighting her is a mindgame, one that's pretty damn hard to win unless you have very good reflexes. She can also, like her sister, summon help, but it is very rare unless you have a summon aiding you.

When you finally kill her, she collapses, managing to get off a few last words as she fades away:

"My Lord, I have failed you. Mark my words, treacherous Hollow. There will be no victory for you here, our lord… will destroy you."

She drops two things, her soul and a new spellbook, representing her and her sister:

" _Soul of Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss. A maiden of war from a young age, Madeleine became a fearsome warrior of the blade and bow, and was adopted by the Abyss alongside her sisters when she pledged herself to the Dark._

 _Though she drew the powers of the Abyss, and the soul of her sister, into herself, it was not enough to prevail against her attacker from a foreign land._

 _Use to gain an incredible amount of souls, or create something of great value."_

Pale Londor Tome: _"A pale blue book, whose pages are coated lightly with frost._

 _Liliane, Daughter of the Abyss, sung great tales of the conflict and suffering of hollows to bring them comfort and humanity, and devised numerous tomes forbidden and profane._

 _This was her personal favorite: perverting the darkness within man to create an icy cold, enemy to the flame."_

Before leaving for Firelink, Ednatiel can be seen standing by the entrance to a great pit once you sit at the bonfire, allowing you to stand back up and immediately talk to her. She offers a fairly long, and very surprising few paragraphs of dialogue:

"So then, all that's left is to descend into the Abyss. I never thought we'd make it this far. You truly are amazing."

"I'm afraid this is where my journey ends. I cannot follow you, not down there. I'm afraid… I haven't been entirely honest with you. I am not like you. I have human flesh, but my soul is black, born of the Abyss."

"My Father was Manus, the progenitor of man, and the creator of the Abyss itself. I came into this world a wicked, tiny thing, filled with anger and determination, but I was weaker than most of my other sisters, and quite unwelcome. I embody father's Memories, those of Humanity and the human life he once lived."

"I was frail, but I desired retribution, for what ancient Oolacile did to us, much like my other sisters. They all found lands beyond, vowing to destroy them and plunge all the souls within into the Abyss. Such was my mission, as well."

"I found my husband in Mirrah, a war torn little country by the sea. In time, he made me his queen, and the two of us lead a long, and prosperous rule. But I did things, unspeakable things, out of his sight. I helped keep Mirrah at war, grinding it to dust, collapsing it. Every lost soul was ripe for Father to take."

"In time, I became undead, concealing it behind some sickness. I was killed in battle as Mirrah burned, and when I returned, I was far weaker than I was before, reincarnated into a true human being. I detested my flesh, and hid far away from Mirrah, finding service abroad as a mercenary. None of them suspected who I truly was."

"I claimed countless lives, uncaring for my own, dying again and again, until I finally grew sick of what I'd become, realizing too late what I'd done."

"Father loved his children, mankind. They were like him: small, fragile, and unwelcome, but they had the capacity for great good. It was this hope, that the age of dark could be a time of peace and stability, that drove him delirious with anger when his children betrayed him, tortured him."

"I came to realize the Abyss was too terrible a punishment for this world, that Father became the very same monster his children did, and his Daughters, me included, were all mislead into blind hatred. I had a good kingdom, filled with good people, and I was compelled to throw it all away. No-one deserved what I did to them."

"I came to Londor to be close to the Abyss. It was the last place I desired to be, but I felt I had nowhere else to go, that perhaps I could settle in, find some normalcy among my fellow hollows. I embraced the cloud of hollowing, and convinced myself I was a different person. I even started to believe it. But, I guess, as Father's memories, I couldn't fool myself forever, could I?"

"I lost the will to press on, but you made me believe we had a chance. It was an honor to fight by your side, and give the hollows here a second chance, a real second chance, without feeding their souls to this cancer. You understand now why I can't help you. That thing in the depths is a master of the Dark Soul, I am terribly frightened that if I face him, I'll be turned against you. Stronger souls than mine have been crushed by the utter blackness, I couldn't live with the regret."

"I wish you the best of luck. I'll find somewhere to settle, and await the good news. Be safe, my friend." (loops).

When you return to Firelink, Ednatiel will be occupying the space Yuria usually does. If you haven't killed Yuria or made her leave, you can hear a fight briefly break out when you warp in. You find Yuria dead at Ednatiel's feet, the child of Dark greeting you.

"Hello. You seem to have had a rat slinking around here, but it's taken care of."

"I'll wait here for you. Don't die." (loops)

Reporting to Ludleth you can choose between a bow or a sword:

Madeleine's Daito: _"Longsword of Madeleine, the eldest Daughter of the Abyss, which was granted to her as a gift for her service in Londor. A master of the sword, Madeleine fought through the age of Dark, finding her sisters and one day uncovering an ancient ruin beneath the land of Lords, where she would find her destiny as a servant to the Primordial Serpent._

 _Harnesses a unique sword technique, with traces of the Dark power which was used to attack from surprise at lightning speeds._

 _Weapon Art: Blink. Enter a combat stance, and follow up with light attack to close the distance between you and your opponent instantly with a teleporting thrust, or strong attack to appear behind opponents with a strong horizontal slash."_

It has a pretty odd setup. Your one handed R1s are fast, rapier-like thrusts, with R2 Combos consisting of a wide swings that resemble a greatsword. Following R2 with an R1 will make you throw out a thrust that's a little slower, but has a lot more power.

Two-handed, your R1s are sweeping side-to-side attacks, with R2 using the greatsword thrust. It behaves like a cross between a straight sword and greatsword, which makes sense since it's abnormally long and heavy compared to the other katanas.

Madeleine's Bow: _"Graceful silver bow inscribed with numerous runes, which belonged to Madeleine, Daughter of the Abyss. Lacking a bowstring, it instead fires bolts of Dark channeled from the user's own focus, a ritual circle adorning the front of the frame focusing Dark into a solid form._

 _A masterpiece of Hollow craftsmanship, it brought death to countless enemies of Londor._

 _Weapon Art: Advanced Blink. Charge one's own body with planeshifting power, replacing rolling action with instantaneous blinks for a short time. The refinement of this skill shows a clear preference for fighting at a range, reflecting Madeleine's tendency to attack from ambush or stay out of reach."_

As it says, when you equip it removes your arrows. As you press the attack button, a bolt materializes inside a ring, materializing bowstrings out of light as you draw back. Each arrow consumes about 10 Focus, though it can consume more if you use the charged attacks.

Rolling R1s and regular R1s give you simple single shot attacks with above average speed compared to their mundane longbow counterparts, but if you press and hold R2, you will actually charge your shot to deal more damage, marked by the arrow getting larger and more luminous. You can also charge rolling R2s as well. Charged arrows have greatly superior tracking over their uncharged counterparts, as well as dealing roughly 60% more damage.

The Weapon Art causes you to flash briefly and travel a fair distance in any direction you roll, similar to the Old Hunter Bone in Bloodborne, and each teleport can be followed up by an attack, though it seems you do a bit less damage to compensate for the higher speed.

Each arrow does track targets, like Soul Spears, and they do a pretty massive amount of damage on a dark build, since it scales S/S in Faith and Intelligence and deals pure Dark damage, but no physical damage.

The Pale Tome can be given to Karla, and unlocks a set of icy attacks, such as frost pillars shooting out of the ground, a cloud of frost that damages everything as it passes, and streams of ice. They have some resemblance to pyromancy, but will leave lingering coats of ice, as well as building up frostbite on contact with the spell, or with anything it comes into contact with.

With that done, all that's left is to end it.


	8. The Abyss

Leaping into the pit in the Sable Church takes you all the way down beneath New Londo, falling for a good several seconds before hitting the "floor". An open stone structure occupies the Abyss, a set of regular platforms and lattices serving as grounds to meditate. There is nothing beyond that but utter blackness, this is the Abyss afterall.

No enemies impede you as you light a bonfire and travel down a couple flights of stairs, down to an open arena. You hear the voice of the Dark Lord clearly even though you can't see him:

"Welcome. I've been expecting you. The Daughter's believed that Londor needed a Lord befitting the humble stature of the Hollows living in it, that I would do better to dwell down here, out of sight. I have learned much about this darkness. Indeed, you could say I am the heart of the Abyss, guiding it along all these eons. But I knew you would not be contented. It is in our nature to hunt, without really knowing why. You will not rest until this land is bereft of Souls, and there is nothing left but the end. Well…"

A torrent of white power cascades from all directions into a singularity, unleashing a blinding flash that nearly knocks you off your feet. Standing midair is the Lord of Londor, who descends onto the platform to face you. "He" has completely black skin and a featureless face, blue fur reminiscent of Manus trailing from the murky skin, with two extremely bright white eyes, which are little more than glowing orbs.

His outfit is a bright white cloak, various silver bracelets and jewelry adorning his arms and neck. He's not as tall as Nameless King or Gwyn, but he's a head taller than you, and framed with large, sheet-like wings that float midair and trail behind him. He draws a great silver bident, violet lightning arcing between the prongs.

"If you intend to claim my throne, then prepare to claw it away from me with everything you have."

 _The Fourth Lord Soul's_ theme is deep and brooding, with a heavy male chorus booming in the background. It's pretty obvious you are in for a bad time (/watch?v=qLb5rPPXpcY)

His melee attacks deal heavy Physical and Dark damage, using it like a cross between a Halberd and Spear, with fast jabs and heavy sweeps. At a range, he blasts away with violet soul spears and black fire. Staying close to him will usually be your best bet, as he will not use as many sorceries, but he will use his _black flame black flame_ , so be careful.

Really he doesn't seem very challenging, just roll poke and dodge sorceries. The Dark Lord gradually gets more agitated, growling and swinging more wildly as he approaches 50% health. He's pretty tanky, but goes down like any other overgrown Lord boss. Right?

At 50% health, he thrusts his palm out and knocks you into last week with telekinesis, grunting as he grabs his scepter in both hands and pries part of the shaft off, throwing it aside and holding the bladed head by the segment still left, just enough for both hands.

He thrusts the scepter into the air, materializing a violet lightsaber blade, the staff becoming a longsword, a ward of red power coating his offhand. His theme changes from a plain abyss vibe over to that of fallen heroism and royalty.

He's no longer fighting like a Lord of Cinder, and has reverted back to the style he used as an undead. His damage doesn't change too much, but his attitude goes from "Urh, why puny undead no die" to "I'm the goddamned chosen undead and I'm going to fuck you harder than Havelmom fucked the Meta."

He becomes way more mobile, running at you the entire time, and relentlessly pounding on you with his Dark longsword, which now has a full complement of thrusting and slashing attacks. Roll-poking will get you nowhere near as far, since he reacts to your moves as you attack. If you try to roll to one side under his sword, he'll just swing back the other way to catch you at the end of your roll and blast you with combustion just to be sure.

He can also backstep out of reach, then follow with his own counter if you try to take him head on. Circle strafing for a backstab (he can be backstabbed and parried), will make him do the classic counter-clockwise turn for his own backstab, which will likely kill you in one hit or cripple you beyond recovery.

His off-hand Dark Hand can be used as a projectile shield, but can also parry you, so beware if he turtles up and lines up on you, because if you attack you're going to get a lightsaber rammed through your chest.

Parrying him back means getting very close, since the blade has two parts: a violet blade of energy that cannot be parried and deals pure Dark, and the metal part at the bottom which deals physical and can be parried. Since he usually attacks from a healthy range away, the best way to achieve a parry is to bait out a combo, roll through the first hit, then immediately parry the second hit. If you do it more than a couple times though, he'll trip you up by throwing unblockable grab attacks into his combos that steal your health while healing him, or just kick you in the face for pretty sizable damage.

This boss knows all of your tricks, and how to counter them.

Like his melee, his sorceries become much harder to predict when he goes into caster mode. The blade on his sword disappears, allowing him to use it as a catalyst. He has numerous magic attacks, using his off-hand as a shield, grab attack, and a pyromancy flame, shooting fireballs, firewhips, and occasionally slamming the ground for a firestorm. His catalyst shoots Soul Spears, casts Homing Soul Arrows and Pursuers, and he has the Manus Dark Bead and Dark Rain. All of these he can mix together, usually throwing out a combo of two or three spells at a time, while using grabs and combustion to knock you away.

When he's done casting, he'll materialize his sword and charge head on again.

If you have a summon, the boss will summon his own help, and if you are not careful, he can materialize a Humanity, drawn from the Abyss, and heal a massive amount of Health (it can be interrupted in just a few hits, so just be careful and stay close).

He's brutally hard to deal with. The best way is to wait for his slower attacks, including magic casts, two handed sword attacks, and after large combos, get a couple hits in, then get out. Playing as light on your feet as possible and wearing him down will work much more effectively than trying to rush head on, between his ability to block, parry, and counter he will absolutely crush you one on one, so it's best to wait him out until he presents a more favorable moment to get some damage in.

When he finally dies he… doesn't die. The lifebar hits zero and he collapses, but he gets back on his feet and keeps fighting, holding his side and swinging a great deal slower, with nowhere near as much damage, but he keeps limping on in the middle of the death animation, too stubborn to give up.

After continuing to struggle, he finally collapses, unable to go further.

"Hmph, I expected as much. You just refuse to die. I suppose I know how the Lords of Cinder feel now. I wonder… do you even intend to Link the Fire, or did you go through all this trouble just to replace me? It doesn't matter, we'll be seeing eachother again, soon enough. I think I'll… just rest awhile."

He finally vanishes, leaving behind his Soul, which is more of a slap in the face than anything:

Lord Soul Fragment: _"A heavy splinter of blackness, fractured from the Dark Soul that consumed an undead hero of the first age. Closer inspection reveals a web of miniscule, blinking eyes, revealing its true nature as a mass of concentrated humanity offered to the Abyss over the Eons._

 _The undead chosen to link the First Flame, a harrowed, timid thing, came into contact with the Primordial Serpent, who revealed the lie perpetrated by the God of the Darkmoon. Disillusioned with his role in the world, and unable to bear the torment of his many deaths, the warrior turned his back on the flames and chose solitude in the Dark, becoming the living heart of collective humanity."_

So, basically, after killing him, than killing him again, he's still not dead, only slowed down a bit since you don't even get his full soul. Thanks From.

Before you can consider going back to the Bonfire, you find a familiar figure looming overhead, watching you from the edge of the Abyss.

"Greetings, young undead. I am Kaathe, the Primordial Serpent. I seems our late master's fear of you was well justified. His consciousness is merely asleep, but to believe he could be bested at all…"

"Brave undead, and most worthy Lord of Hollows. You have defeated the Sable Church. The Abyss awaits a new ruler. You may have believed that we would spurn you for your actions, but in truth, if they were too weak to repel you, they were unfit to be our champions. Regardless of your actions prior, I welcome you."

"The First Flame lies on the very cusp of flickering out. Not even our lord could prevent its return. So, instead, I ask you to seize it from its rest, and return it here, where it can be used for my own will."

"Frail human, I bid thee, make covenant with the Abyss, claim your rightful throne. The Age of Man draws close. You don't intend to leave the Throne empty, do you?"

 **Make Covenant.** "Splendid, I knew you would not be so foolish. Take this as proof of our covenant. The Abyss is stillborn with its heart disrupted, a new flow of Humanities will get it sorted out once more. Farewell, our Lord of Hollows."

Which gives you the crest of the Darkwraith:

" _Medallion symbolizing the Abyss. In times past, the Primordial Serpents called upon the Darkwraiths, corrupted hollows with a thirst for souls, to return fragments of the Dark Soul in the form of Humanity to its true home._

 _The order gradually faced extinction, but with the coming Dark Age, it is destined to return once more._ "

The covenant lets you invade as a black spirit, pillaging Humanities from fallen players as well as being able to "invade" bosses in the DLC in order to assist them, ranking up at 10, 30, and 50 kills and gaining each item respectively:

Dark Bead: " _Ancient dark sorcery from the ravaged land of Oolacile._

 _Unleash a torrent of concentrated Humanities that deal tremendous damage if all bolts connect._

 _Humanity is a force of life, and also destruction, depending on its mood_."

Death Cloud: " _Creates a miasma of Dark energy that afflicts the victim with a deathly plague that rapidly deteriorates health._

 _A heretical sorcerer created a poisonous derivative of the original life-devouring essence, demonstrating the desire for to see Abyss magics return to the surface world._ "

Manus Catalyst: _"An old wooden staff of unfathomable power and age. Should have turned to dust long ago, but is strangely intact._

 _Said to be born from the soul of the Father of the Abyss, it can only cast Dark sorceries and drains increased FP in exchange for tremendous power. Can also cast miracles, making it the true weapon of a Lord._

 _Weapon Art: Steady Chant."_

Returning to the shrine, you can go to Ludleth and see what the Lord Soul fragment gives you:

Broken Staff: _"The enchanted silver staff of the Lord of Londor, the haft broken nearly completely off, leaving a short silver bident with powerful arcane abilities._

 _The Dark Lord, disgusted by his weakness as a Lord, broke his own weapon so he could call on his old undead fighting skills, finding more power in his humanity than his Lordship._

 _Utilizes a great blade of Dark that can also call upon sorceries and miracles._

 _Weapon Art: Resolve. Temporally concentrate inner strength into a more powerful blade while raising poise and defense. In the countless trials of Lordran, a lone undead found himself with only his unbreakable refusal to die to carry him, channeled by the art of this weapon."_

Has pretty good physical damage, with a greatsword moveset attached to a short bident, with every attack releasing a lightsaber blade of doom. If you hit with both the saber and the bident, you will deal considerable damage. The melee part scales off of your strength and dex, the light blade scales off of your intelligence and faith.

Extinguish (Dark Miracle): " _The blackest of all Abyss sorceries, an enhancement of Lifedrain. Reach out with a soul-stealing grasp and pull the Ember from your victim._

 _The weary undead grew resentful of the flame, and cultivated envy as a Darkwraith. This miracle channels that unrest, and turns it into a tool that can hollow even the most stalwart in an instant. Such a terrible thing should never be used by anyone_."

Sacred Flame, if Sacred Flame could knock someone out of cinder form, reducing their health by 40% and restoring 40% of your own health. Using it on an unembered target restores your health while dealing additional grab damage, which with enough Faith and Intelligence, is practically an instadeath. Jesus.

The Shrine Handmaid also sells a new set:

Humanity Cloak: _"Rippling white cloak that seems lighter than air. Placing one's fingers on it softly, one can feel it flowing like water._

 _Fashioned by the undead lord of Londor soon after he embraced the Abyss, this soft, cold garb was the only clothing he wore in his term as lord."_

Silver Anklets/Bracelets: _"A set of jeweled platinum and silver rings and chains, bearing magical forces that slightly raise souls consumed._

 _Such flashy jewelry has little value, aside from stating fashion."_

Silver Pendant: _"An ancient pendant from an ancient land, once said to repel the dark, but that blessing is no more, reducing it to nothing but a useless adornment._

 _Created to push back the Abyss, the Lord of Londor used it to defeat the progenitor of man, and kept it close as a keepsake from that day forth."_

Unfortunately, once you go anywhere close to Ednatiel after making a covenant, she strides out, weapon in hand. She is not pleased:

"How could you? After everything we've done together, you decide to side with the Primordial Serpents anyway. Was this what you intended from the beginning? To become another Dark Lord? Was all of this some conquest for you?"

You have one chance to ask for forgiveness, or do nothing and let it play out. If you have joined the covenant, but HAVE NOT given Kaathe any Humanity, she will let you go:

"… I… I can't bring myself to do it. There's goodness in you, I know it. Please, whatever they may have promised you, don't be compelled to do something as foolish as unleash the Abyss on the world. It's caused enough pain and suffering. Please. If you go down that path, everything the world sacrificed to endure Father's mistake will be for nothing."

But, if you've already donated to the covenant:

"I forgive you, my friend. But do they forgive you? Those Humanities. The innocent souls you _stole_ to better serve the Darkstalker? I don't know what madness grips the souls of good men, and compels them to do these horrible things, but I will not let it claim you."

She becomes hostile attacks full force. Velka will not be able to stop her, and she will keep fighting until killed, bringing a violent end to her quest.

…

Or…

You can deny that slithery bastard's covenant and cave his face in with your Bass Cannon+5, there's nowhere for him to run this time.

Unfortunately, he won't just drop dead:

He laughs once he's taken a few good hits, his voice getting visibly deeper as he speaks:

"What foolishness. Very well… _I am sick to death of relying on fickle Hollows to do my will. I will be taking that Lord Soul back…_ _ **personally**_ **.** "

(/watch?v=-eJyY2kTtyY)

 _Kaathe, Voice of the Abyss_ looms high over you, his eyes glowing bright red as he breathes toxic breath down on you and launches bolts of Dark from seemingly nothing, using the Abyss itself as a weapon.

He doesn't really move or exercise advanced tactics, just spams AoEs to try and kill you.

Once he gets down to 75% Health, the other primordial serpents materialize from the shadows, turning into even more of a mess.

The funny thing is, it's actually very easy. They are really tanky, but aside from soaking up your damage, they have incredibly lackluster attacks, as they have never had to fight before.

It seems like an easy win, but then, they remember they are Dickwraiths. They pull back and call down a blanket of curse, collectively chanting as your screen turns blacker and blacker. When it blacks out, you die.

They will do this everytime it looks like you are about to chew through their ridiculous HP, leaving no chance to win.

Of course, the Primordial Serpents get away scot free. If only the damn Silver Pendant worked, too bad it's as useless as the other pendant. Speaking of, where was that other pendant. Eh… it wouldn't just be sitting at the Untended Graves where we started…

…

So after getting the Pendant out of the Untended Graves, sitting right where you teleported into the map, you now have two Pendants, the Silver Pendant and Normal pendant. Two useless Amulets for the price of one, unless the Firekeeper has eyes:

"Ashen One, where did you find this? I sense ancient magic, and a tired, poor soul, nearly exhausted. Both of these are from the Dark, they frighten me terribly, but there is a faint ember resting within them. In fact, it feels as though the two yearn for eachother…"

"Ashen One, I'm going to try and unite the embers within these two. As is your wish."

The Pendant crumbles to dust, leaving behind a small ember, which the Firekeeper places in the Silver Pendant. What you get back is the True Pendant:

" _A shining silver pendant, brimming with newly awakened soul power. This small token offered nothing for the weary undead, but it stayed by his side to the very end, serving as a reminder of his Humanity, as it was the only thing he was afforded in the Undead Asylum._

 _Now joined with his inner darkness in the Silver Pendant, it serves as a beacon of light in the endless Darkness, a token of hope along the hard roads, and a symbol of a long journey reaching its end."_

Going back to the Abyss, you can now repel all of the Primordial Serpents attacks without a care. When the screen goes black, there is a blinding flash as the Abyss is driven back. The theme changes to a remix of the hidden track that plays when you link the fire AND become the dark lord in Dark Souls 1. This is now _your_ boss fight.

Kaathe exclaims as you fight back, no longer under the control of the Abyss:

"What!? How did you do that?! What even are you!"

"Stop! Stop! You're ruining everything, the Abyss…"

"You're just a human, a lowly human! We have survived since before the first age of light, and you think you can… gah… stop, stop that!"

"Just… Die… why won't you just die!"

When you finally strike the last blow, Kaathe and the Serpents unleash a long, satisfying death scream as you finish them off. Their bodies crumbling apart and receding into the Abyss.

" _Soul of the Primordial Serpents who once stalked the darkness. The serpents were born frail but immensely wise. They waited for their elder kin, the dragons, to perish, before latching onto the Abyss as a means of strengthening themselves, manipulating the hearts of man for generations, with the intention of one day ruling a blackened world."_

Which transposes into a new, seriously badass miracle:

Dark Lantern: _"Emit a field of concentrated humanity that constantly drains focus to maintain, with the boon of afflicting any who touch its inverse light with curse. A treacherous miracle, using it also builds up curse within the self, and should only be used if deemed absolutely necessary._

 _The serpents could not withstand the light, so they sought to devour it, removing it from the world while strengthening themselves, mankind serving as their liaison to godhood."_

When you return to the Shrine, basking in your glory, Ednatiel if there to greet you:

"You've done it, haven't you? Moments ago, I felt a tremendous relief welling up within me. I could sense it, to my very core, a sense of serenity and calm, as though all the writhing Humanities in the Abyss have finally settled into a restful sleep. I can feel the scars in my soul growing smaller and smaller, as though the curse itself is slowly lifting."

"The Primordial Serpents, dead. I never believed I'd say that, it still feels strange to consider. They have haunted this world since the First Age. With them gone, and the Dark Soul in pieces, the Abyss will surely begin to recede. When the world goes Dark, it will remain at rest, freeing us to… to…"

"(Laughs) I don't know, I never really thought about it. Perhaps the Hollows will start to come to their senses as well, what with their souls not being constantly drained. I cannot thank you enough, you have made this old daughter comforted beyond measure. I'm sure Father would be proud of you, as well. I don't know how I can repay you. I guess, when it all ends- assuming you consider not burning yourself alive- I hope you consider letting me stay by your side. I want to see the world, the whole world, and what lies beyond the fire. I couldn't even think about shutting myself away again. It would be nice to have someone to share that with, I don't really have a family anymore."

"If you need my help anywhere, you'll know to call on my sign. It's the least I can do."

"That expression, you're getting embarrassed having me drag your sorry hide around, aren't you? No need to be shy about it, I know you're skills are lacking a little here and there, I understand."

"Offended? Do you intend to do something about it?"

 **No** : "Suit yourself, if you decide you have the spine for it, you know where to find me."

 **Yes** : "Flustered are we? Well, to be honest, I've been bored to tears being stuck in here while you had all the fun. I want to know if you are as good as I think you are. Maybe I'm being a little hypocritical, but I am terribly curious…"

"Meet me by the water, if you're brave enough." (loops)

In Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, on the lake where you enter the sewer, you find a scary looking portal, similar to what you saw in Dark Souls 2 with the Ashen Mist, when you touch it you pass out and awaken in one of the breathtaking maps in the series: _The Shores of Mirrah_

It's a long, pristine white beach on the coast, trees swaying all down the edge with a lighthouse on a distant cliff. Signs of a larger city can be seen above the treeline, though it's inaccessible. A few ships float in the water, with a few run aground at various spots.

The sea is gorgeous, the sky a white and blue as the sun is nearly touching the horizon, the whole sea shining in the evening sunlight while waves gently crash on the shore and seagulls can be heard squawking and flying around.

The whole stretch is empty, no enemies, no impediments, you can't even summon or be invaded as you light a bonfire and walk down the shore. A beached ship is broken in two on one of the narrower spots, a gap allowing you to pass though, where you can see a figure standing there, waiting.

When you cross the threshold, the cutscene plays, your character facing Ednatiel as she gazes around. Her outfit is completely changed, as is her stature. She is now a head taller than you, with broader shoulders and generally a more imposing frame, her hair longer and more cleanly parted. Her assassin's outfit is now a great big pair of leather combat boots, leather gloves, a broad, feathered hat, and a blue, gold buttoned navel coat buttoned open, revealing a lacy white corset with jeweled broaches and necklaces. She's like a cross between a pirate lord and a warrior princess, Ednatiel addressing you calmly:

"This shore is gone now, but I still remember it. I remember it all, down to the very last grain of sand. This is my home, and this body you see before you, is myself."

She reaches to her side, drawing a large cavalry sabre and pointing it at you, placing a hand behind her back with her feet together in dueling stance.

"Draw your sword, and fight with everything you have. Fight me like you fought him, hold nothing back."

 _Sofia, Mirran Queen_ advances towards you with a slow, disciplined gait, holding her stance as she lines up on you. Her theme is sad but determined as she fights you like a master duelist (/watch?v=YxNFYNjRYd8)

Her first phase is okay if you know how to parry, but it's hard as she tracks extremely well, attacking in lightning fast thrusts and slashes, quickly regaining her composure after every stroke, constantly probing for weaknesses.

Her attacks don't combo too much, but you have to be very careful as the lack of urgency and slow, careful gait betray incredibly fast and precise attacks that can be very hard to see coming. It gives the phrase "with one arm behind your back" a new meaning, as she will make quick work of you if you are not able to keep up.

Her sword deals very strong bleeding, so you should be careful not to get hit too much. She can gaurdbreak and dodge projectiles, and generally fights you as a perfect equal. She can parry you if you go too aggressive, so it's very advisable you attack only after she does, hitting her during her recovery.

Phase 2, on the other hand, is a completely different beast as she keels over, giggles like a schoolgirl, and glows purple. Her initial AoE deals strong damage and partially heals her, leaving behind a purple aura.

Her other hand is now in front, her super disciplined style replaced by the Bar-fighter meets kung-fu master stance you're used to her having. If you're not convinced you're screwed yet as she cuts loose, her theme is completely replaced by a more spirited, bombastic one. She's actually happy to be fighting you (/watch?v=I8ciSi2nIeM)

Her "frenzy" is now active, only each quickstep results in her practically teleporting, each jump marked with a _boom_ and a splash of sand as she dodges back and forth anime style. Her single, precise strokes are now long combo chains of erratic slashes. Between that and her full speed, the fight becomes a mess as you have to react as fast as you can to avoid being minced. Taking chains of attacks will almost always trigger a bleed, so having bleed resist and pro dodging is absolutely required.

She will sometimes launch another self-healing AoE, but thankfully, if you have duel talismans and a great deal of precision, you can tag her, which will disable her buff. This both slows her down considerably as well as stops her AoE for a time, though she will buff again after a while.

If you have no talismans, her combos are flashy but also sloppy, you just have to know the exact right time to leap out of the way.

Retries are also merciful. If you die, YOU KEEP YOUR CINDER FORM, so you don't really die, which makes up for not being able to summon and it being a hard fight.

It's a damn fun fight, but tough as nails, and when you beat her you feel only satisfaction as the mist dispels, though you can go back whenever you want via bonfire and it will now be open to fight clubs. Reality leaves Ednatiel in her normal form, kneeling in the water and clearly fatigued.

" ***whew*** You're every bit as skilled as I imagined, the best I've ever fought. Thank you. For a moment, I got to relive my glory days. I had just enough strength in me to summon that illusion one last time, I'm afraid you're the last one to fight me in my prime. But, I'm alright with that."

"I'm afraid I can't offer my soul, but… here. I've been holding onto these for as long as I can remember. I guess I couldn't stand the thought of them just drifting around somewhere. It breaks my heart to part with them, but I'm done with the past, you've earned them."

Sofia's Ashes: _"Ashes of Sofia, the Mirran Queen. Withered and ashen, they have not lived in a great period of time._

 _The Queen of Mirrah was the pride of her nation, and was feared and respected by her adversaries, until one day she died in a siege, and was mourned by her king until his own death soon after."_

The Shrine Handmaid will give you her armor and sword:

Marine Set: _"Heavy leather gloves/boots/coat/hat crafted for navel travel. Capable of shrugging off the toughest weather, this sailor's attire is adorned with great amounts of pearls, gold, and gems with elegant Mirran craftsmenship. This set was created for the queen._

 _Situated on the coast between many enemies, Mirrah hosted several powerful knight guilds and a fearsome navy that supported armies and transported knights to foreign lands. In desperate times, the King and Queen became the Captain and First Mate of the flagship to serve the country as valiantly as their knights."_

Imperial Cutlass: _"The curved sword of Sofia, the Queen of Mirrah. The blade, honed with diamond dust, slices through flesh and leathers with uncanny ease and reflects the light of the sun as clearly as resting water._

 _A ceremonial ornament in peace and a frightening weapon in war, Sofia was feared as one of Mirrah's finest knights, and a butcher of her people's enemies. Utilizes a technique that combines graceful speed with overwhelming strength, with a focus on killing enemies as fast as possible._

 _Some suggested Sofia's aggression stemmed from a darkness lurking in her heart, but not a soul wanted to doubt their beloved queen._

 _Weapon Art: Mirrah Stance. Assume an aggressive stance that chains into a rapid series of light strikes, or a strong series of running attacks."_

This one is a real beauty. It has strong bleed, low stamina consumption, an epic moveset, and scales C in strength and a sweet S in dex, with no infusions possible. It requires 18 strength and 30 Dex with low base AR, so a quality build is needed to realize its full potential.

One handed is a regular curved sword moveset, so you want to go two-handed, which puts you in a special one-handed stance, like Ednatiel's Nail. It has deceptive reach for its class, with the first R1 preceded by a short lunge if the target if out of reach, allowing you to close in and hit earlier than what a person may expect, with follow-up attack coming out pretty quick after the first hit.

Strong attack is jumping spin slash attack, followed by a horizontal slash. L1 makes you slash your target and backflip, similar to a scimitar kick, with a follow-up being a lunge forward.

Every attack chains absolutely beautifully with other attacks, which begs for it to be used in fluid motions, certainly worth killing almost every boss in the DLC to get it.

* * *

A/N: And so, the most relevant thing I've done in awhile comes to an end. Such a shame. Aside from Faded Embers, there is nothing interesting going on now.

It would be cool though if I came up with an entire Dark Souls 4 concept like Ruin King, only in the Faded Embers style of personal narrative making it an epic adventure instead of a brief summary that suffered from massive burnout at the last second. Certainly with no covenant system, sick bosses, and some epic maps. Too bad no such concept exists.

OR DOES IT!?

 _ **DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUN!**_ (T _hat's not true, that's imposssssssssibru!_ )


End file.
